Pokémon: Shadows
by Pokessassin
Summary: After Giratina is given probation from the Distortion World by Arceus, Giratina attacks and supposedly kills Arceus, collapsing the Hall of Origin. Unfortunately, however, something else was broken that day...the barrier seperating our world from the world of Pokémon. Now it's up to Dean Regan, an ordinary 13 year old gamer, along with one very irritating Darkrai, to stop Giratina!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: What's up?! This is, at last, my take on the concept of 'if Pokémon was Real'! I was sort of inspired by the author ****Wolfsthrope Von Schlieffen**** and his fic Mew's Child, which is great. So, um, stop reading this and read that. It's better. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. Yet. **

_Thirteen years ago, the Hall of Origin…_

Arceus stood above the pit of swirling shadow, eyes narrowed, head hung.

"He is coming," Arceus said, his deep voice strained.

"He does not deserve this, my Lord. He is a murderer. I beg of you to reconsider." Ho-Oh, who stood beside him, wings folded to his sides, urged.

"I have made a promise. One millennium of darkness. Now I will give my wayward son a single chance to repent," Arceus said, and even though he sounded pained, his tone conveyed finality.

"_Unwise," _Mew, who bobbed gently on the Alpha Pokémon's right, said.

"_Silence." _Arceus growled, and took a step back. Red chains sprang from the ground and suddenly shot down the pit, delving into the shadows.

"This is madness!" Dialga who, had just charged into the room, roared.

Arceus did not respond. The red chains continued to reach down into the chasm.

Dialga could wait no longer. He charged an Aura Sphere and fired, but it was stopped in mid-air by Mew, who dispersed the attack with a telekinetic blast.

"_Stop. His decision is made," _Mew ordered.

Dialga didn't look remotely ready to stop, but without warning Mew used Teleport, sending a sliver of psychic power at Dialga. When the energy shard connected, the Temporal Pokémon vanished.

"He is here," Arceus said as the chains went taut. Suddenly they retracted at lightning speed. And out of the pit rose Giratina, the Renegade Pokémon, in all its majesty.

"_Father," _Giratina growled.

"Giratina. I have chosen to release you from your imprisonment after the one thousand years of blackness. I welcome you home, son," Arceus said, voice hoarse, trembling from the effort of withdrawing Giratina from his Distortion World hell.

"_Thank you," _Giratina answered as the chains lowered it to the floor.

"This is probation, understand," Ho-Oh interrupted, eyes burning with hate and suspicion.

"_Of course, my Lord,"_ the Ghost/Dragon type answered.

"I will alert the others then," Ho-Oh said and vanished in a vortex of flame.

"_Mew." _Giratina greeted, undisguised revolt in its voice. Mew was everything the Pokémon despised, an epitome of peace and acceptance of all beings.

"_Giratina. I am not pleased to see you in the least," _Mew answered bluntly.

"Silence. I will guide my son to his quarters. Leave us," Arceus said curtly. Mew bowed his head and teleported away.

"_Just you and I, father. You and I," _Giratina said, eyes shining blood red.

"Y-yes," Arceus said hurriedly and opened the doors. He stepped out into a massive gold hallway.

"_I was mistaken, Arceus," _Giratina said after a few minutes.

"In what way?"

"_Not you and I. Not at all. Just me," _Giratina said, and spread its wings wide, ready to kill.

_The Hall of Origin, later on…_

The crowds of legends gathered outside the room where Arceus had extricated Giratina from his prison, all of them anticipating what would happen.

Entei claimed that there would be war.

Articuno claimed that the Alpha Pokémon would change his mind and that he would not withdraw his fallen son at all.

And Darkrai, the messenger of the legends, was of the opinion that this was a horrific idea and that they all should just shut and go home and mind own business.

"He's taken a long time." Zapdos, who was hovering silently above Darkrai, mused in his high-pitched voice.

"I'm told that raising something from perdition is generally pretty tiring," Darkrai answered.

"Perhaps we should see if something's gone wrong?" Reshiram, her booming voice sounding nervous, suggested.

"I agree," Darkrai said and vanished in a blur of darkness and motion.

A moment later he was inside the room, at the edge of the pit.

The doors opened and Zapdos swooped in, landing on the ground beside Darkrai. Reshiram stomped in after him.

"Where is he?" Reshiram questioned looking around.

"Lord Arceus!" Zapdos squawked. "Lord Arceus!"

"Look there." Reshiram nodded to the entrance to the hallway that Giratina and Arceus had walked down earlier.

The three legends approached the entrance and entered into a gold hallway. Then they spotted it.

A scorch mark.

"_Dead," _growled a vicious voice behind them and a blast of Ominous Wind send all three Pokémon simultaneously to the ground.

Giratina stood above them.

"You can't have." Darkrai breathed in awe.

"_I can. I have reduced him to ash with Dragonbreath. It was not quick. It was not painless. It was slow, and it was torturous. Just as my imprisonment was," _Giratina snarled.

Zapdos was the first to react. He spread his wings and let loose a Discharge. A massive globe of electricity formed around him and blasted out, slamming into the Renegade Pokémon, who showed next to no reaction as Zapdos was swatted out of the air by a Dragon Claw.

Darkrai blurred and reappeared right in front of Giratina. He fired off a Dark Pulse that, despite its type advantage, merely drove Giratina back a step. Giratina shrieked and six massive, glowing shards of the floor were ripped up and fired at Darkrai in an Ancient Power attack that slammed the Pitch-Black Pokémon to the ground.

Reshiram was the last one standing.

She launched a Dragon Pulse that hit Giratina surprisingly hard, and sent the legend reeling. Reshiram took a step forwards and charge up a Fusion Flare, but Giratina interrupted the attack by using Dragonbreath. Reshiram fell.

Darkrai rose shakily to his feet, but, when he did, Giratina was nowhere to be seen.

"Why didn't it finish us?" Darkrai wondered aloud. Then his single blue eye widened.

"Unless it didn't need to."

Suddenly, a fraction off the roof caved in. Darkrai used Focus Blast to shatter the metal fragment before it hit him. He rushed to his fallen allies. He saw a deep gash on Zapdos. The bird of thunder wasn't breathing.

Darkrai bowed his head in respect before waking Reshiram.

"Come on. The Hall's caving in. And I have a hunch I know why," the Dark type legendary informed his friend, who quickly rose to her feet. They set off back up the corridor and into the room with the entrance to the Distortion World.

Unfortunately, Darkrai was proven right.

The pit had expanded into a massive chasm, leaking out swirling shadows.

"Giratina must have done this. Torn the entrance wider, breaking the barrier between the Distortion World and ours. We need to get out," Reshiram said.

"But, the others –!" Darkrai began, but he was cut off by the Vast White Pokémon.

"No time, dammit! We're leaving!" Reshiram interrupted hurriedly and roared. Flames filled Darkrai's vision, and the last thing he saw was darkness consuming the Hall of Origin.

**A/N: DUN-DUN-DUUUUN! Anyway, on the cliffhangery note, I will be signing off! Once more, thank you ****Wolfsthrope Von Schlieffen for the inspiration! Read and review, and I hope you all have a good remainder of the Easter holidays!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Heyo! First off, thank you to K.E. Holt for the review/story follow thingy, I really appreciate it and will do my best to keep up the quality! And also, thanks to RavenX1339 for the story follow too. Thanks guys! And my god, thanks for the follows from Wildlian, neauclearreactor5 and BlueFlame27! **

**Disclaimer: Pokémon belongs to Nintendo, and not me. Until I initiate a hostile takeover involving large firearms and tae-kwon-do squirrels.**

_Thirteen years later, Bullring Shopping Centre, England…_

The receptionist raised her pen as she heard a loud and obviously exaggerated throat-clearing from in front of her.

She looked up.

A boy stood in front of her. He looked about thirteen, with dark blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He wore a leather jacket that was blatantly a hand-me-down, and jeans. He carried a Nintendo 3DS.

"Ah. I'm guessing you're here for the, er, Pokémon tournament? Right. Name?" The receptionist asked.

"Dean Regan," the boy smiled, and signed his name on the clipboard that was handed him before handing it back.

He thanked the receptionist and went through two double doors into a large and brightly lit room.

The room had a wooden floor, and many tables were set up around the place. Two seats were on either side. The heads of everyone sitting at these tables turned as he entered.

"Ah. Haha, I…I'm guessing I'm not exactly on time?" Dean asked nervously.

"Nope," said one of the people with a name tag stating he was a judge as he shook his head.

"Wonderful." Dean sighed.

"It's fine. Sit down, first round begins in five everyone!" the judge called, and walked over to one of the tables at the far side of the room.

Dean quickly skimmed his eyes across the room and found a table with a seat free. He guessed that was the table he was meant to sit at.

He took the free seat and looked at his opponent. His mouth fell open slightly.

She was, as Dean eloquently put it in his own thoughts, hot.

She had blonde hair, a far lighter shade than his own, and green eyes.

"Hi." She greeted.

"Yep."

"Sorry, what?"

"Um…hi."

"I suppose there's no point in me repeating my 'hi', is there?" she asked. Dean silently cursed himself.

"No, no, sorry. I'm Dean." Dean smiled.

"OK, I'm Emily," the girl said. Dean nodded, glad that ridiculously embarrassing exchange was over.

"Alright, start up!" the judge called. Dean flipped open his 3DS.

Suddenly, something very odd happened.

As soon as Dean switched on Pokémon Y, the screen cracked. It wasn't huge, just a small splinter. But it was there.

"What the hell?" He muttered.

Suddenly, as he clicked into his file, something stranger still happened. A longer crack, far longer, that spread across the entire screen, opened. And the screen went dark.

"Could you give me a sec?" Dean asked Emily, irritated.

"Um…sure. What's up?" she asked.

"It's my…oh. Oh, you're kidding," Dean moaned. His screen had went dark. Completely dark.

He didn't see two blood red eyes open in the darkness.

_Mount Coronet, 13 years ago…_

Giratina soared through the dark cavern, revelling in his victory. This was the day it had waited for, down these long years.

It had often envisioned vaporizing its father. But no fantasy could match how it had really felt.

It spread his wings and let out a triumphant roar.

Suddenly, voices filled the air around Giratina. It didn't recognize them. But it knew the tones. Harsh. Confused. Angry.

Human.

But where were they coming from?

Suddenly, something huge and white opened in front of the Renegade Pokémon, filling its vision and pulling it in.

_Bullring Shopping Centre, England, present day…_

Dean was _pissed._

His 3DS had broken down. He had passed the qualifying rounds, beaten people older and more experienced than him. And what stopped him from getting into what was one of the bigger tournaments he was ever likely to compete in?

A defective freakin' handheld.

He had prepared torturously for today, practiced against every single friend, EV trained, actually figured out how to IV breed, only for this to happen.

Right now, he was making his way back to the café where his dad and brother said they would be.

But suddenly, he was snapped out of his depths of self-pity.

"Hey, Dean!" called a voice from behind him.

He turned and saw Emily running up behind him.

"What are you doing here?" Dean asked. "You should be in the tournament." It was hard to keep the bitterness from his voice.

"Dropped out." Emily answered.

"What?! Why would you drop out?" Dean questioned.

"I don't know, it's just…they progressed me to the next round when you had to quit. I just felt cheated out of a good match is all." Emily grinned.

"Well, um, would I be a terrible person if I thanked you?" Dean asked with a slight smile.

"Yes."

"Then I will make the wise decision and not do that." Dean nodded knowingly. Emily laughed.

Suddenly, the window of the nearest shop shattered. Then the shop afters. And all around them, every piece of glass, every mirror, every window, every, well, glass, shattered. Screams echoed around the shop.

"Jesus!" Dean yelped as a shard slice through his jeans, drawing blood.

"My god." Emily breathed looking up.

Dean looked in that direction as well and he gaped.

A white shaft of light floated above the criss-crossing series of escalators, like a glowing slash in the air.

"What's that?" Dean mused, squinting at something dark moving inside the shaft of light.

And then, something huge and winged and impossible burst from the slash of white light.

"But…no, that's…" Dean stuttered. He was transfixed to the huge, six-legged creature before him.

"That's a Giratina!" Emily exclaimed.

Giratina looked down, red eyes scrutinizing the room. He didn't recognize this place. The people were strange. And where were the Pokémon?

Something loud went off and Giratina felt something bounce off his metal head-armour. He looked down. A thin man in what he recalled as a human 'police' uniform, aiming a gun at him.

Giratina opened its mouth. A green blast of fire sprang forth from its open maw and hit the guard. When the stream of flames faded, all that was left was dust.

And then the screams began anew.

"B-but that can't be real. That's just a _game character,_" Dean said, shaking his head.

"Apparently not," Emily shot back, irritated at Dean's disbelief.

Giratina was angry. This was not how it was meant to be. Giratina was meant to kill Arceus, collapse the Hall, and reign hell upon the Sinnoh region as recompense for its imprisonment.

Now, here it was. Why?

Giratina let loose a roar and flapped its wings. It let loose an Ominous Wind attack that actually lifted some people up and hurled them across the shopping centre. The noise of shattering glass resounded as someone went through a revolving door.

Dean was bowled over. He felt the back of his head hit a table. A dull, throbbing ache began at the base of his neck. _That _couldn't be good.

Giratina threw its head back and began to charge an enormous Shadow Ball.

It fired.

"Dean!"

It was Emily. Her voice sounded far away. The pain in his neck intensified.

Suddenly, pillar of flame rose in front of him.

And out of it came two more things that were simply impossible.

**A/N: OK, that's chapter two! Not sure, but I think that this one sucked even worse than the last one…still, thanks for all the support and stuff. R&R!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I am really sorry for the horrifically terribleness of Chapter Two (although it could just be me), but hopefully this'll be better. Anyway, thanks again for the reviews and things, four already!**

**Disclaimer: Pokémon is Nintendo property. Until I bargain with those tae-kwon-do squirrels.**

Dean's eyes widened as two shapes, two _Pokémon, _stepped out from the pillar of fire. Giratina's Shadow Ball faded upon impact with the fire.

"Oh, you are _joking."_

He recognized both of them. One was huge, with pale blue eyes and white fur. Its elbows ended in wings, and a wispy sort of mane flowing from the back of its head.

"Reshiram…" Emily muttered. She was beside him, having just gotten to her knees after the Ominous Wind attack.

Next to Reshiram, considerably smaller, was the Pokémon Dean knew as Darkrai. Its single blue eye stared at Dean.

"Where did we end up?" said an irritated, male voice. Dean came to the realization that it came from the Darkrai.

"I'm not sure. But I felt something pull me off course," said a female voice that must've come from the Reshiram.

"_You two," _Giratina snarled. It raised its head again and blasted another Shadow Ball.

"Look out!" Emily cried. Reshiram turned. Unfortunately.

The attack went ramming into her and sent the Fire/Dragon type into a crowd of onlookers, who scattered.

Darkrai's eye narrowed. Despite the terrible danger, Dean found himself grinning. This was about to get real.

Darkrai blurred and appeared right in front of Giratina. He raised his hand and a wave of Dark energy blasted out, a Dark Pulse, sending Giratina back. It crashed through one of the escalators.

Giratina swung its wing at Darkrai tried for another attack. The spectral wing sent the Dark type legendary spinning, ploughing into the ground.

_Outside the shopping centre…_

The grey van pulled up outside, parking next to the body of the woman who, earlier, had been sent through the revolving door.

The doors opened and five men, all armed with automatic rifles, dressed in black with visors over their eyes, bailed out. On each of their military-style uniforms, a gleaming silver 'H' was displayed on the chest.

"We picked up a breach. Moving in," said one of them into a black iPhone. He awaited a response and nodded.

"Go! Go! A breach at a major populated area like this…we have no other option but a clean sweep. Kill every witness," The soldier informed his team. The other four men nodded and they steeled themselves for a massacre.

_Back inside…_

Dean was starting to realize that Nintendo's idea that Pokémon is turn based was complete and utter BS.

The three legends fought at breakneck speed, Darkrai springing around wildly, flinging Dark Pulses and Psychic attacks, while Reshiram, who had recovered, blasted Dragon Pulses and massive fireballs that Dean supposed could only be Fusion Flares.

"We need to get out of here," Emily said to him.

"But…really? Now? You want to miss this?" Dean asked, gesturing to the battling legends.

"Well, I dunno…dying and seeing something cool? Living and not? I gotta tell you Dean, I'd go for option two," Emily shrugged, doing a scale-weighing motion with her hands.

Dean glanced at the legends, then at Emily.

"Ah, fine." He sighed and stood. His neck was still killing him.

Suddenly, Giratina rose high into the air. It opened its mouth and formed a huge, orange and blue orb of energy.

"Oh, crap. I have a terrible hunch as to what that is," Dean muttered before the Hyper Beam was released.

A torrent of energy ripped through the shopping centre, tearing the floor and the ceiling and the people.

"Run!" Emily yelled, grabbing Dean's arm and yanking him behind her as she sprinted away. But they couldn't outrun an explosion. That was just physics.

Darkrai saw the two.

"Reshiram. Pull out!" Darkrai yelled. Reshiram glanced at him.

"_PULL!" _Darkrai shouted and Reshiram rose into the air, swooping towards the two kids.

"Jesus! The Reshiram, it's chasing us!" Emily called as the two ran.

"Let it catch up! I have a feeling!" Dean shouted back.

Reshiram dived in.

"Jump!" Dean cried.

They did, and Reshiram dipped her head, allowing the two to land on her neck. Dean gripped her fur tightly, as did Emily.

Darkrai launched one final Dark Pulse and suddenly sank into the ground.

A shadow appeared on Reshiram's wing and Darkrai rose up. He kneeled, breathing hard.

"_You _are welcome," Darkrai sneered.

"Did it just…" Emily asked, squinting at Darkrai.

"Yes, _he _did." Darkrai replied, annoyed.

"Oh my god." Emily gasped.

"Brace yourselves!" Reshiram warned and threw back her head. She launched a Fusion Flare that blasted a section of the roof off.

Dean was hit by a blast of heat when the attack hit. Then the Vast White dragon soared out into the open sky, generator-tail glowing with flame.

Suddenly, from below gunfire sounded.

"Quick! Go!" Dean yelled, panicked as bullets whizzed past him.

He looked down. Men in black stood below them, firing.

"Darkrai, can you like, sleep them or something?" Emily asked. Darkrai nodded, sinking _into _Reshiram's wing. Suddenly, a dark portal opened beneath the group of men.

The portal engulfed them and then dispersed. When it did, the men were on the ground. Darkrai rose back onto Reshiram's wing.

"Done, now let's get away."

"Um, what? Where? Where are we running to? Who are we running _from?_" Dean asked.

"Well, we're running from the people who are shooting at us, obviously. And as to where…well, we haven't exactly figured that out yet," Darkrai answered.

Then suddenly, Dean's face drained of colour.

"Shit."

"Language. What is it?" Emily asked.

"My dad. My dad, and my b-brother. They're still inside with Giratina," Dean stammered.

"I'm sorry," Reshiram said quietly.

"No, no. Don't apologize. Help. Help them!" Dean shouted.

"We can't go back there. Everyone in that building is dead," Darkrai said sombrely.

"But we have to…you can't just let them…" Dean said, barely able to string two words together through his tears.

"We have to." Darkrai answered.

And they flew on, as rain began to fall.

**Well, that was sad. Wow, I'm really mean to Dean. First the tournament, now this…can he ever catch a break? Once again though, thanks for all the support and everything!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey guys! I don't have a massive amount to say this time around, apart from thanks again for all the reviews and stuff. And yup, Wolfsthrope, I'm aware of the obvious cliché.**

**Disclaimer: Pokémon remains Nintendo's, as the tae-kwon-do squirrels are being very stubborn.**

_A little while later, over the town of Aldridge, England…_

Dean stood with his leather jacket held over his head, shielding him from the downpour. Emily was huddled next to him, with her own coat over her head.

A cloud of steam had seemed to gather around Reshiram's tail, as rain couldn't get anywhere near her flame generator tail. Darkrai remained motionless on her wing apart from annoyingly whistling 'Ace of Spades' by Motorhead.

Dean didn't care.

All that he cared about was why his brother and father had to die, why those men had been firing at them, and why, for the love of god, why, are Pokémon suddenly real?

"Excuse me," He said. Darkrai's eye moved to him. Reshiram glanced back.

"Why? Why did all this happen, why are you _here_?" Dean asked.

"I don't follow." Reshiram answered.

"I mean, _how? _You're not meant to be real. You're just characters in a game."

Darkrai's eye widened.

"What?"

"Yeah. You're all game characters. You're not real." Emily reiterated.

Reshiram's eyes narrowed.

"Darkrai," she said.

"What is it?"

"We saw it with our own eyes. Giratina tore open the barrier between Sinnoh, between our _world, _and the Distortion World. But maybe…perhaps when the barrier broke, and we teleported, we were thrown into another dimension that the barrier previously kept segregated? It would explain why we're 'game characters' here."

"Quite possibly." Darkrai nodded. Dean glanced at Emily. She shrugged.

"Best explanation we have now, I suppose. Question two, though. Who was that who shot at us back outside the Bullring?" Dean asked.

"OK, to that end, I have no clue." Darkrai conceded. Then suddenly, Reshiram bucked wildly.

Dean was hurled into the air, hands fumbling for a handhold, grasping at the Vast White Pokémon's fur.

"Jesus!" Emily yelled as she tumbled by Reshiram's generator tail, the flames scorching her sleeve. Darkrai reacted quickly.

He blurred, and caught Dean. The thirteen year old fell against the crook of his arm. Darkrai blurred again.

Dean felt like he was on the single fastest rollercoaster he'd ever ridden, multiplied by ninety thousand.

Darkrai grabbed Emily's wrist and reappeared on Reshiram's back.

"What was that about?" He asked, concerned and annoyed simultaneously.

"I'm sorry…there was a noise, in my head. A sort of high-pitched screaming." Reshiram panted, breathing hard.

"Maybe we should land. I see a town down there, maybe put us down in those woods beside it?" Emily suggested, pointing to a collection of buildings below. Reshiram nodded and descended into a thick patch of trees.

Dean had to shove a few branches out of his face as they lowered down, but eventually, he heard a thud that signified Reshiram's landing.

Dean hopped off, staggering slightly when he landed. Emily jumped off after him. Darkrai sank into Reshiram's back and rose up from the shadows on the forest floor.

"OK. So, what now?" Emily asked, the question aimed at Darkrai.

"Well, we should probably find out why Reshiram had some sort of fit, so it doesn't happen again." Darkrai answered.

"I'm frickin' starving," Dean said suddenly. He'd only just realized it. Immense emotional stress made a man crave BBQ ribs, apparently.

"OK, here's a plan. Dean and I will go into town and find a bite to eat. You two go look for that high-pitched screaming thing, we meet up back here in two hours?" Emily suggested. Darkrai glanced at Reshiram, who nodded. Dean had already set off toward the town when Emily turned to him. She quickly caught up.

"So, any theories on what happened to Reshiram?"

"No." Dean answered flatly, checking his pockets. "Hey, how much are ribs, do you reckon?"

"Are you even listening?" Emily sighed. Dean's expression turned cold in a heartbeat.

"_No. _No, I am not. Would you like to know why? Because, apparently, my father and brother are dead, I'm _miles_ from home, with two fictional characters, I might add, and I've also been shot at. Forgive me, please, Emily, if I have very little headspace for theory and want to focus on the _bloody here and now." _Dean hissed, and spun on his heel, striding into the distance.

_West London, location unknown…_

"Sir," said a bald, suited man with a gleaming 'H' on his lapels to a man who sat with his back to him.

"What?" replied the seated man curtly.

"We weren't able to restrain Giratina at the Bullring. It was already gone when we got in." informed the suited man.

"Well, I must say, I am not in the slightest bit surprised. This is a hunt. We are the hunters. Our prey eluded us once. Not going to happen again, I hope?" the man in the seat a mocking tone.

"No, sir. But, our men outside the Bullring saw something else. A Reshiram and Darkrai, and two kids. They got away, but we have their location," the suited man said.

"Good, very good. Where?" the man in the seat asked.

"Aldridge."

"Marvelous. I take it we have someone there already?" the seated man asked, but he knew the answer. They did. They always had someone everywhere.

"Of course. But, sir…there's also been a breach."

"And where would that be?"

"Aldridge."

**OK! So sorry for the obscenely short chapter, and nothing happened in it I know, but seriously, I had a long day and I just wanted to get something up. Thanks for all the reviews and stuff, still!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! I know last chapter was both small and bad, but I've been hooked on this game called Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater! I'm really addicted to it, and I'd really recommend the Metal Gear games to anyone! And oh, thanks for KaijuKyurem for the story follow and things!**

**Disclaimer: Nintendo owns Pokémon, and I've given up on the tae-kwon-do squirrels.**

Dean sat at a table in the Starbucks, sipping at his cold coffee.

Emily was sitting across from them. She was obviously still pissed for his earlier explosion. Dean knew he was out of line, and he was, in some measure, sorry, but he was just too stubborn to admit it.

"So," he said, trying to break the awkward silence.

"So?" Emily answered.

"See anything suspicious on the way here? Anything that might have given Reshiram a fit or whatever?" Dean asked. He was actually interested.

"No. Well. Except for…but it's probably nothing," Emily said, shaking her head.

"What did you see?"

"I don't know, it was probably just a coincidence, but…you know that war memorial they have here in Aldridge? We passed it. And outside there was two or three black vans. It might be a coincidence, but I was pretty sure I saw one of the same vans outside the Bullring. With those guys who shot at us." Emily explained.

Dean nodded. To be honest, it _was _a small stretch…

"We should check it out." He suggested.

"I'd say so. Reshiram and Darkrai will appreciate it, anyway. Let's go," Emily said. She fished out a wallet from her jacket pocket, but Dean held up a hand.

"No. I'll pay for the coffee and stuff, it's fine. My way of sorry for earlier," Dean said, and smiled. Emily nodded, smiled back.

After they'd paid, the two walked out, across the street. They were a few metres from the row of three black vans parked outside the Aldridge war memorial. Yellow tape, like the ones set up around crime scenes, was set up around the entrance.

"OK, seeming a little more suspicious now," Dean whispered, careful to not make their observing look obvious.

"Yeah. Let's get a closer look." Emily answered and they set off up the street. Dean pretended to walk by the entrance. His eyes darted to the left.

Behind the tape, men in black military-style uniforms were scattered across the memorial. Some stood, while some were bent down, thoroughly examining the place with torches, what looked like UV lights, and some held computers. A gleaming 'H' was on each of their uniforms chest. But the main thing that Dean and Emily noticed was the Desert Eagle pistols at each of the men's belts.

"You were right. That's them. Back from the shopping centre." Dean confirmed. He was pale. He looked afraid.

"But why?" Emily mused. They quickly walked on though, as one of the men looked up.

Once they were out of sight, they instantly turned to each other.

"OK, OK. We need to find out what they're looking for," Emily said.

"Should we not wait for Darkrai and Reshiram? I mean all things considered, if we're going to be pissing off people with guns, we should probably wait for guns of our own," Dean said.

Emily shook her head.

"No. We won't be tackling them head on, obviously. We'll just be sneaking in, seeing what they want, sneaking out. Sound simple?" Emily said. Dean hesitated, then sighed.

"Fine." He said.

Emily moved slowly towards the entrance again. There was an iron gate barring the way in. One of the men was stationed in front of it. His back was turned, conveniently enough.

"Quick!" Dean hissed and Emily pushed open the gate a little, sneaking in. She swiftly moved behind a bush. As the man in black began to turn, Dean hastily dived to Emily's location.

"That went well," he said, spitting a blade of grass from his mouth.

"Hmm…what's that?" Emily mused, squinting through a gap in the bush. Dean took a look.

Positioned behind a large, thick tree, was a long, metal cylinder. It had buttons scattered across its surface, and a small LCD screen on it. It was attended to by a thin man. Usually, Dean wouldn't have been intimidated by the man. Unfortunately, the man held a very large RPG-7.

"Well, I don't care what it is, I'm not going near it," Dean said flatly.

"OK, fine. _I'll _do it. _You, _Mr I-need-to-grow-a-pair, can look for whatever it is they're here for." Emily decided. Dean wasn't exactly pleased with that option either, but he nodded sheepishly.

"OK. Um, good luck," he said. Emily smiled cockily.

"I'll be fine. _Go." _She insisted and darted over to the next bush.

Dean paused, waiting for another guard to turn, before dashing across to the patch of trees at the other end of the memorial. He looked up and saw that the metal cylinder's LCD screen was flashing huge red numbers. Emily was crouched a patch of shrubbery near it. She caught his eye, nodded in an 'I'll be fine,' way. Dean gave a thumbs-up.

And then the thin guard turned…

To a man in a suit, who had just approached him.

"What's the situation?" the suited man questioned. Only now did Dean notice the 'H' on the man's lapels.

"We've picked up a signal. It's here. In the woods somewhere." The thin man answered.

"Good, good. And is she meant to be here, too?" the man asked. Emily's eyes widened. She stood up to run, but the suited man snatched her wrist and slammed her against a tree trunk.

Dean paled.

"Who are you, then?" the suited man asked.

"I could ask you the same question," Emily said, her voice shaky. She caught Dean's eye again and glanced to the machine. Dean understood. He moved.

He snuck up close to the cylinder, and looked at the red numbers.

"Distance, twenty metres…" he muttered. Then he got it. The thin guard had said 'it's here, in the woods somewhere'. Emily wanted Dean to find whatever 'it' was.

He stood, and moved silently through the woods. Suddenly, something huge and gold zoomed past him. A gust of wind slammed him to the ground.

Dean sat up slowly. He gaped.

An Aegislash, the Steel/Ghost Pokémon from Gen VI, floated noiselessly above him. Its single purple eye stared at him. It was in its Blade Forme. Its sword had become its body of sorts, and two tassels extended like arms, one gripping a shield.

"Oh, shit." Dean swore. Aegislash rose above him. It tilted its entire body, poised to strike.

Then it blurred, and rammed through the leg of a black-clad guard who had been aiming his AK-47 at Dean's neck.

The Aegislash quickly retracted its blade from the man's thigh and slammed its shield against his head. He collapsed, unconscious.

"Sorry, I'm _very _confused. You _aren't _going to stab me?" Dean asked, stepping back to a safe distance from the Pokémon.

The Aegislash tilted slightly, left and then right. The closest thing to head-shaking it could manage, Dean supposed.

"OK, OK. Cool. Um. Thanks. Why, if I might ask?" Dean questioned cautiously.

Suddenly, a strained voice, sounding like it was only just learning the words, spoke.

"You…made…me." Aegislash choked out.

Dean raised an eyebrow.

"What is _that _meant to mean?" he questioned, afraid now.

"I am your weapon." Aegislash stated, getting the hang of the English language now, it seemed.

"What?" Dean exclaimed. The Pokémon was making no sense whatsoever.

Suddenly, Emily burst into sight from the trees. Three men in black, each sporting Desert Eagles, followed. The man in the suit from back at the memorial strolled languidly after.

"Cornered like a…oh," the man sneered, but stopped abruptly when he saw the Aegislash.

"Mr Rankshaw?" one of the man asked. "What should we do?"

"Leave the…Aegislash, I think. Kill the children. Clean sweep," the man, Rankshaw, ordered, eyes fixed on the Pokémon.

Dean swallowed hard. He wished they had gotten Darkrai and Reshiram here.

He really, really did.

**OK, so that's my extra long, I hope, chapter five. Sorry for not posting in a while. But still, enjoy. And to clarify, Rankshaw is the same suited man who was talking to the guy in the seat last chapter. R and R!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey! Thank you guys **_**so muuuuuuch **_**for all the follow/faves. It's extremely encouraging, and I promise, with all the support I'm getting, I will be able to see this one through to the end! And oh, POKÉMON ALPHA SAPHIRE AND OMEGA RUBY CONFIRMED! GROUDON FOREVER!**

**Disclaimer: Pokémon belongs to Nintendo, not to me.**

"_OPEN FIRE!" _Rankshaw yelled. The men drew their pistols and, in one fluid motion, fired.

Aegislash blurred, and suddenly, its tassels were crossed and its sword was placed behind its shield. Shield forme.

The bullets clanged off the Pokémons shield.

"Sh-!" one of the men began to curse before Aegislash changed back to Blade forme and slashed into his arm. Blood sprayed like a faucet and the man toppled.

"Jesus!" Dean exclaimed as the red liquid spewed onto his jacket and jeans. Emily grabbed his arm. Dean turned.

"Look." She hissed, pointing to a small opening in the trees. It led out back into the memorial.

Another onslaught of gunfire smashed into Aegislash, who was forced back. Apparently, though it could take Hydro Pumps and Earthquakes, bullets still stung.

"Come on!" Emily said.

"We can't just leave Aegislash…" Dean protested. He turned to the valiantly fighting Pokémon that had just hurled a Shadow Ball into one of the gunmen's chests, slamming him into a thick patch of thorns.

"Go." Aegislash urged. He'd obviously overheard.

"A-are you sure?" Dean asked, voice quivering with emotion. He'd known the Pokémon all of twelve minutes, but still…

"Go," Aegislash repeated. "I will defend you. You made me."

"What does he mean?" Emily asked. Dean shook his head.

"I don't know. We'll be back. We'll be back for you." Dean assured. Then he turn, and ran, gunshots ringing out behind them like bombs exploding every few seconds.

_Outside Aldridge, the woods…_

Darkrai was slightly relieved when he saw Dean and Emily stumbling towards them. He felt attached to the strangers, despite only having known them for less than a day.

"Where the hell were you two? It's been like, more than two hours," Darkrai asked. If he had an eyebrow to raise, it would be very much raised right now.

"Sorry, we were a bit _busy." _Dean snarled. Reshiram, who stood above them, spoke.

"What happened?" She questioned.

And then, in an explanation perforated by interruptions and questions, Emily and Dean told them.

"An Aegislash? Do you know where they are now?" Darkrai asked.

"No." Dean shook his head.

"Mr Helpful. So what do we do?" Darkrai snarked, glancing at Reshiram, obviously looking for her input as well.

"Well, we gotta try and help him, don't we? Aegislash laid down his life for us back there," Emily said. Reshiram nodded.

"She's right. We owe it to that Pokémon." She agreed.

"OK then! No time to waste, let's go!" Dean said briskly and hopped up onto Reshiram's back. Darkrai blurred and appeared on her wing. Emily boarded the Pokémon, and, with a burst of flame from her tail, the Vast White dragon took off, scattering embers onto the ground.

"What are we looking for?" Darkrai asked.

"A black van. There might be two or three. Keep an eye out." Dean called back to him.

Suddenly, something grey shot up from the trees.

"What the…" Emily mused as the grey blur got closer. It was moving at an alarming rate.

And then, when it had gotten close enough, she saw it.

Too late.

The grey blur expanded into a huge net of gleaming Kevlar.

"Turn, turn, _turn, dammit!_" Darkrai yelled as another net blasted up beside them.

The two traps draped over Reshiram, and her passengers.

Gunfire shot up from the trees. A bullet clipped the Fire/Dragon type in her side and she cried out as blood spurted from the wound. She spun.

Darkrai reached out to grab Dean and Emily, but suddenly, electricity raced up the links of the net, and everything went dark.

**Sweet Bejebus, that was short. Sorry, but once more, needed to get something up. Sorry if it sucks, feeling a little under the weather of late.**


	7. Chapter 7

**OK! After the short badness that was chapters five and six, I hope to redeem myself (please Fanfiction readers, I am **_**so **_**sorry), by way of the Magnificent Chapter Seven being well, magnificent.**

**Disclaimer: Pokémon is Nintendo's. And um…I don't own the Magnificent Seven? Do I need to disclaim my references?**

Dean's eyes snapped open, and for a moment, it was so dark that he wasn't sure if they were still closed or not.

For a terrifying instant, he thought he'd gone blind. Then he saw, illuminated by a shaft of light that stabbed through the blackness, Emily, unconscious, across the room.

Whoever had done that had better be prepared for an ass-handing in their direction, Dean thought angrily. He saw Darkrai, his head-smoke billowing slower than usual.

But no Reshiram.

He shook his head. The last thing he recalled was riding Reshiram, off to save Aegislash, and then the net…

The guns…

Reshiram had been shot. Dean was even angrier now. His friends had been hurt, and all because he'd insisted on taking off to save a Pokémon that they didn't even know.

Suddenly, the door was hurled open and the sudden burst of brightness stung Dean's eyes.

Rankshaw stood, his tall, thin frame outlined in the doorway.

"Wakey-wakey, Mr Dean Regan." He sneered. He looked around.

"Oh. Well, that won't do. How are we meant to interrogate sleeping prisoners?" he said, and strode over to Emily.

"_DON'T YOU FREAKING DARE, YOU-!" _Dean began, but Rankshaw ignored him and slapped Emily across the face. She jolted awake, and, surprisingly, slapped Rankshaw back.

His smooth features contorted in rage.

"Well now. We can't have that. Get in here!" He said, snapping that last part out the door. Two men, each in the military uniforms from the memorial and Bullring, walked in, grabbed Emily by the wrists.

Dean pleaded. He fought. But there was two of them, two grown men, and one of him. He was soundly kicked back against the cell wall as Emily was hauled out of sight.

Leaving Darkrai and Dean alone, with Rankshaw.

"Now then. I'll ask nicely the first time. When did you come into contact with these Pokémon?" Rankshaw asked. Dean didn't answer.

"_Why _did they choose to save you at the Bullring?" Rankshaw went on. Dean turned away slightly. He didn't actually know that one. He felt guilty about it. Why _was _he saved, instead of all those others?

"OK. You seem to think you're a hard man. But trust me, boy, you are not as hard as you seem to think. And I'll tell you what…you're not the only one with Pokémon, either." Rankshaw sneered, his face stretching into a fierce grin.

He drew out an object from his jacket pocket. At first, Dean didn't recognize it. Then it came to him.

It was a Poké Ball. True, it was larger than it should have been, and had a small screen on it, but the red and white colours designated as a Poké Ball.

Rankshaw pressed the button in the centre of it. There was a flash of light, and something small stood in front of Dean. Its red eyes shone through the darkness, and the gleaming gold zipper that made up its haunting smile reflected the light from the hallway.

"Banette. Use Curse." Rankshaw ordered. Banette raised a hand. Vapour rose from the corners of the room and formed into the shape of a nail. (A/N: Like, a screw-type nail, not a fingernail)

Dean knew what was coming. He shut his eyes as the mist-nail drove itself through his chest.

"_Tell _me why these Pokémon are helping you?! _WHO ARE YOU?!" _Rankshaw yelled. Dean's jaw tightened as the nail retracted itself without leaving a mark.

Dean spat in his face.

Rankshaw wiped the saliva from his cheek.

"Fine. I can do this as long as you like. Banette. Again!" Rankshaw barked. Banette raised its hand once more.

Dean glanced at Darkrai. Still unconscious.

The Curse nail drove through his lower torso this time, and he couldn't restrain a yell.

"_TELL ME!" _Rankshaw bellowed and backhanded him across the face. Dean bowed his head.

"Ready to talk?" Rankshaw asked, standing. Banette loomed over Dean.

"Let Emily go." Dean choked out.

"The girl? Well, if you won't talk, we have to get our answers from her. Of course, if you _talked…" _Rankshaw grinned savagely.

Dean looked him in the eye. He knew what he meant. The only way Emily would get out was if he talked. But he _didn't know anything._ Once again, Dean hung his head. What could he do? He was defeated. Hopeless. He was…he was...

Gone, suddenly. Dean Regan blacked out.

But still he raised his head to meet his captor's eyes, eyes now turned red, rimmed with green.

The thing that was _not _Dean Regan knew what he was, in that moment.

He was alive.

_Elsewhere in the facility, East London…_

Emily had gotten away from the guards four minutes after they'd hauled her from the cell.

She'd said to stop for one second, that her leg was broken. Of course, being a 'little girl', the two men had complied. Idiots. Once they'd stopped, she snatched the two Taser rod things that the men carried in their belts. She'd zapped them on the back of the necks and bolted.

Now, unfortunately, she was bloody lost.

The facility was cavernous. Hallways twisted left and right and up and she was 99% sure that she'd seen one that went _diagonally._

Thankfully, she'd managed to avoid the guards. But that didn't do her a huge amount of good. She planned to find Reshiram first and Aegislash first. Those two would definitely be a help in rescuing Dean and Darkrai.

She just hoped that Dean didn't do anything stupid. She hoped he didn't talk to that bastard Rankshaw.

Emily's thoughts were interrupted when heavy footsteps resounded through the hallway. She ducked into a corner.

The footsteps stopped. Emily could've sworn that she heard a sniffing noise.

"Come on out," a voice said. It was accented. Male. American, she was pretty sure.

She was silent.

"I know you're here. Come out where I can see you," the voice said.

A silent pause.

"Have it your way." The voice growled and then there was a howl. A doglike howl.

A jet of fire shot down the hallway, narrowly missing her, singing her sleeve.

Emily still didn't make a sound.

She chanced a glance up out of the shadows.

The man wore a long, beige trenchcoat. He had greying hair and sunglasses. A Houndoom snarled at his heels.

Emily pressed herself against the wall once more as the man turned his head.

"No one here. Hmm. I suppose I'm gettin' old." The man mused. He strode off down the hall.

Emily breathed a sigh of relief. She looked down the hallway over her shoulder.

A pair of double doors was at the other end. She darted towards them pushed them open, and snuck in.

Emily, without looking at her surroundings, ducked down into a shadowy corner.

She looked up.

She was on a balcony, a raised platform that went around the edges of the room. Leaning over the railing, looking down, was a man with his back to Emily. He wore a navy suit and had dark hair.

And down in the lower level that the balcony overlooked, surrounded by mechanical devices, was Reshiram.

"Dammit," Emily said under her breath.

"So, Reshiram. I'll ask you once more." The man sighed. "Why here? Why did you and Darkrai, two _legends, _only appear thirteen years _after _the first Pokémon started emerging? You two are the first legends. Why only now?"

Reshiram snarled and let out a blast of fire.

"Temper, temper." The man laughed and clicked his fingers. The mechanical devices, some shaped like claws, others like guns, all lit up.

Electricity fired from them and hit Reshiram, who writhed, screaming.

Emily turned away. The horror was too much.

That was when an explosion rocked the building to its foundations.

**OK, now we're getting somewhere plot-wise. Sorry for all the infrequent updates, it's just, I've had some computer troubles and also, I'm planning a Yu-Gi-Oh! Fanfic. So yeah. There's that. Anyway, see ya!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey-ooooooooooo! Back with another chapter of Pokémon: Shadows! Kind of want to put out at least one more chapter before starting up this Yu-Gi-Oh! Fic. But anyway, enough on that.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?! *Falls to knees and sobs deeply*.**

Dean kneeled in the destroyed wreck of the hallway. His head was down. He was crying by Rankshaw's body. He didn't know if he was dead or just unconscious, but the trail of blood that trickled from his temple said that whatever he was, he was soon going to be option one anyway.

It had happened again. Just like when he was seven. Just like…like the day he was born.

He was scared. Terrified. He'd wanted to run and hide. And he would, he'd black out, run away inside his own mind.

And this would happen.

Dean sobbed. More men lay around him, uniforms torn, guns no more than melting pools of plastic and metal.

He was sure that _they _were dead.

And he was sure that he had killed them.

He heard footsteps. Behind him. A blur of shadow.

Darkrai stood behind him.

"What the hell happened? I could um, sleep through an earthquake. Sleeping is my gig. But seriously, kid, what…what the _hell happened?" _Darkrai asked. Dean looked at him with bloodshot eyes.

"I did. I did. All of this, was me." He moaned.

Darkrai's eye widened. He looked around.

"Kid. Dean. This was not you. This cannot be you," Darkrai said, gesturing to the destruction.

More footsteps. Emily ran towards him through the smoke that was floating lazily across the remains of the hallway.

"Dean!" She yelled, rushing over to him.

Out of the smoke, Aegislash and Reshiram burst out.

"We managed to escape in the explosion. Dean, are you alright?" Reshiram asked.

Aegislash bowed his sword-head-thing slightly.

"Jesus, Dean. What happened here?" Emily asked.

Darkrai looked at Dean pointedly. Dean shook his head desperately.

"We don't know. C'mon. Let's go," Darkrai said hurriedly and grabbed Dean and Emily by the shoulders, ready to haul them up onto Reshiram's back.

Suddenly, a massive Fire Blast blazed past the group.

"Don't you move!" yelled a voice. A man in a trenchcoat, the American from earlier, strode out. His Houndoom stalked after him, flames licking at its paws.

The man's coat was singed at the edges. He held a Derringer pistol, aimed at Emily.

Darkrai charged a Focus Blast in his hands.

Houndoom leapt. It howled and a Dark Pulse of energy drove Darkrai back. The Pokémon took the opportunity and lunged, tearing at Darkrai with a Fire Fang. The Pitch Black Pokémon stumbled.

"Aegislash, Sacred Sword," Dean said, acting on gaming instinct. Then he added, "um, please."  
Aegislash leapt into action, and his blade glowed orange. He blurred and swung.

Houndoom was hit and sent sprawling.

The American fired, the gunshots going off like bombs. Reshiram tried to get Emily out of the way, but with no time for anything fancy, had to lightly kick her out of the way.

The bullets whistled over Reshiram's head.

Darkrai hurled his Focus Blast. The American managed to sidestep it, but the impact still sent him to the ground.

He flinched as Aegislash put his blade to his throat.

"Now." Dean growled, his voice full of a strange cold anger. A terrifying anger.

"Tell me why Rankshaw had us kidnapped," he asked simply. Despite the American being five times his age with ease, the man still looked frightened. It was the look in Dean's eyes.

"You knew about the Pokémon. No one but us is meant to." The man answered.

"Why is that?" Dean asked.

"Because we are the Hunters. And we _will _protect the human race from _all _threats. Including Pokémon."

"And yet, you use them yourself?"

"Assets, Mr Regan. Assets and weapons like anything else in this cruel, cruel world," the American said. Houndoom looked offended.

Aegislash pressed his blade closer to the man's throat.

"What shall I do with him?" Aegislash asked.

Dean looked into the man's eyes. He looked afraid. Truly, truly afraid.

"Let him go. We have to leave," Dean said at last. He turned and hopped onto Reshiram.

Emily followed, kicking Rankshaw in the head as she passed, just for good measure.

Darkrai and Aegislash moved in a blur of motion onto either of Reshiram's wings as she took off with a roar.

The American looked into the sky and hoped they would never be back.

_West London, location unknown…_

The seated man had his back to the door when one of the uniformed Hunter grunts came in.

"Yes?" the seated man said.

"There was an explosion at the facility. Rankshaw isn't responding. Or Jones. Never trusted that American idiot." Informed the soldier.

The seated man didn't nod. Then again, he _couldn't _nod.

"And Giratina?" the man in the chair asked.

"Not sighted since the Bullring, sir." The man replied.

The man in the seat was silent. The only noise was the gentle '_shhh' _of oxygen going through the tubes that lead into the man's chair.

"Leave me." the man ordered after a while. The man nodded and exited the room hurriedly.

The man in the seat narrowed his blind, unseeing eyes.

He would have to accelerate his plan.

_East London, a secluded rooftop…_

Reshiram landed with a soft thud on the redbrick roof. She allowed Dean and Emily to get off. Darkrai stayed on her back. Aegislash was asleep, strangely enough.

"OK, Dean, I think you have some explaining to do!" Emily shouted. Dean paled.

"What about?" He asked, though he knew the answer.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that you _blew up the entire freaking building?!"_Emily yelled.

"You're welcome," Dean muttered.

"Oh no, don't get me wrong, thanks and all, but _how the hell did you do it?!" _Emily continued, voice shrill.

Dean stared very intently at his shoes.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know? You're the one who did it," Darkrai said.

"I mean, I didn't do it. I don't know, it's like…when I'm scared. Or when I'm really, really, jaw-droppingly angry, I just…black out. And then when I come to, I'm standing in a wreck. Or standing in a fire. Or standing over a _body," _Dean said.

"That doesn't explain how a thirteen year old kid can burn down half of a military-type facility and then proceed to kill men with guns. And _melt _those guns," Darkrai said, shaking his head incredulously.

"I don't know how it happens, OK?! I don't. I have literally, no clue how. It's only happened three, maybe four times. Most recently when I was eight and a couple of older kids, you know, proper douchebags, they cornered me. Beat me up. They took my wallet and then, 'poof'. I'm gone, and when I wake up, I'm standing in a pile of rubble. My dad covered up, told the police a gas main exploded. He and my brother were the only ones who ever knew." Dean explained. Emily gaped.

"I saw that on the news. A house in London, actually, wasn't it? Massive explosion, fire everywhere?"

"That was the one."

Emily shrank away. Darkrai looked at him with something near revolt. Even Reshiram backed up a little.

"OK. OK. Right. We'll figure all this out, OK? We will. But right now, we need to focus on stopping these Hunter fellows, and Giratina, if we can." Darkrai decided. Emily and Dean nodded. Reshiram listened intently. Aegislash snored.

"So how are we going to that?" Dean asked.

"By fighting. But we need more than what we have, more than just the five of us. Because if us and Giratina, the only legends, just materialized these past few days, thirteen years after the others began to appear…then other legends will as well. We need to find them," Reshiram said.

"And then?"

"And then we go to war."

**Epic cliffhanger! Anyway, thanks to Fawx999 for the follow/favourite! So, I'm going to start my Yu-Gi-Oh! Fanfic soon, so I might be focusing on that for a few days. Just informing you. Besides, this is sort of what I imagine to be the end of the first arc-type-thing. Also, an important announcement! I might be making a sort of playlist for these first few chapters. I'll put it up on my profile when I do. Until then, adios!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey! Changed my mind about the Yu-Gi-Oh! thing. Haven't changed my mind about **_**doing **_**it, like, but just, I'm going to plan it a bit more first. Until then, moar shadowzez.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.**

_Bristol city, England, four weeks later…_

Dean sat up suddenly wide-eyed and bathed in sweat.

He'd a nightmare. A very vivid nightmare. Almost a memory. Even now it was getting fuzzy, but he remembered one word. One name.

Arceus.

Dean looked around. He was on Reshiram's back. Tiny embers were being scattered in the Vast White Pokémon's wake as it soared over the city below.

Emily was awake too. Darkrai wasn't, neither was Aegislash.

"Morning." Dean greeted. Emily checked her phone.

"I wouldn't say _morning. _I'd say middle-of-the-bloody-night. I can't sleep." Emily groaned.

"Well. I suppose that makes two of us. Where are we?" Dean asked, looking down. The darkness was so oppressively thick that he could only see the spires of a tall cathedral.

"Bristol. See anything out of the ordinary?" Emily asked, sliding next to him and looking down as well.

"No. But, considering I can't see _anything, _period, I'd take that observation with a pinch of salt." Dean answered. Emily laughed. Dean was glad of that. Since he'd accidentally ripped a hole in the London skyline a week ago when he'd blow up the top eight floors of the Hunters building, Emily had been fairly cold with him. Scared of him, even.

Dean put his hands in his pockets. He drew out the Poké Ball he'd stolen on the way out of the Hunter facility from Rankshaw's unconscious body.

He clicked the button on it and Aegislash came out in Shield Forme.

"My lord," Aegislash said.

"Don't call me that." Dean snapped flatly. That was another thing that had been dogging him. No matter how many times he said not to, Aegislash always addressed him as 'lord', or 'master', or something along those lines. It annoyed him. And he wondered why.

The group hadn't done a huge amount since the Hunter Facility Incident. They'd just been flying around, mainly. After the explosion in east London, a manhunt had been launched, _for_ _them, _by the authorities. Apparently, the Hunters had connections in the police. So that was their lives now. Trying to avoid capture, and failing to get to Pokémon before the Hunters.

Suddenly, something huge swooped past Reshiram.

The Vast White Pokémon pulled to a halt and tried to get a clear view.

The huge thing was a Pokémon, a Fearow. Its massive wings were cut all over. It was covered in blood.

Darkrai awoke. He stood.

Suddenly, a patch of the night sky directly in front of them got darker. Blacker than night itself.

Giratina lunged out from the patch of darkness and before anyone could register anything at all, the Renegade Pokémon had caught the Fearow in its jaws and devoured it.

Reshiram charged a Dragon Pulse, but before she could fire, Giratina charged, bursting forward and slamming into Reshiram.

Darkrai leapt and fired a Dark Pulse that sent Giratina reeling.

Aegislash backed up and began to glow a steely grey as he switched into Blade Forme. He launched an Iron Head that drove Giratina back further.

"_I have no time for this," _Giratina said and spread its wings.

An Ominous Wind attack blasted into Reshiram and sent her spinning back in the air. Dean fumbled desperately for a handhold.

He eventually found one when Darkrai grabbed him and dragged him back up.

Giratina roared, and another darker-than-dark patch opened. The Renegade Pokémon flew into it, and, as quickly as it had appeared, the portal closed.

There was silence.

"OK. That was terrifying," Dean said. Darkrai backed away slightly.

"Oh, Jesus. Don't back up, I'm not going to Hulk-out or whatever." Dean sighed. He sat down.

"OK. We need to set down for a while," Reshiram said and promptly nosedived towards a rooftop.

She slowed just in time to land softly on the roof.

Dean jumped off and looked off the roof, climbing up onto the edge of the building.

To the group, this had become common practice. Any police cars, any Hunter vans, they get the hell out of there.

Nothing.

Dean put his hands in his pockets. Nothing to do but wait.

Then he turned and saw the scorched Alakazam, bent over on the rooftop, sheltering an Abra in its arms.

"_Help," _the voice of the Pokémon said in his mind.

**I like cliffhangers. They are wonderful, horrible, excellent, repellent things. Anyway, Mew's Child by Wolfsthrope Van Schlieffen is done, so I'd advise reading that, as he's putting up a sequel! Trust me, it's better than this. **


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi! Hoping to start putting up chapters with much more frequency now, as I'm really getting into this fic now. And now we in the double digits baby! Um…on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, Nintendo does.**

_West London, location unknown…_

Jones strode into the office, and found the two other members of the Hunter Admin Triad already waiting.

Rankshaw sat in a wheelchair. His legs were twisted at odd angles. His face was wrapped in bandages. Battle wounds from the explosion of the Eastern Facility. Jones had to conceal a smile. He hated Rankshaw.

The other member of the Triad leaned against the windowsill casually checking his nails. He had dark hair and stubble around his mouth. He wore a navy suit on his tall, thin frame. His name was Christopher, the most high-ranked Admin. The man who'd been torturing Reshiram. No one had bothered to ask his surname.

"You're all here," said the rasping voice of the man in the seat, who, as always, had his back to them.

"Yes." Christopher nodded, though he knew the man in the chair didn't see.

"Good. I have something to discuss." The seated man wheezed. His pale, paper-thin-skinned hand clicked a button on the armrest of his chair.

An image appeared on a flatscreen TV on the wall. It was a picture of Dean Regan, lying in a cell.

"Do you know who this is?" asked the man in the chair.

"Yes," all three admins said in unison. The man in the seat slammed his frail fist on the armrest.

"_No, you don't." _he hissed.

"He's Dean Oliver Regan, aged thirteen. Born in - …" Jones began, but was cut off.

"_No, you don't. _But I will tell you. Listen closely."

_Bristol, England…_

Dean immediately went to the Alakazam and tried to get the Pokémon warm. Despite being covered in scorch marks, the Psychic type was shivering.

"I don't know if Pokémon even get it, but man, this looks like hypothermia or something." Emily remarked, shaking her head. Alakazam had graciously accepted a place near Reshiram's warm tail, but no matter what, refused to leave her Abra.

Dean wondered how long it would be before anyone else noticed the Abra wasn't moving. He didn't want to say it.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Emily asked.

Alakazam raised her head.

"_Giratina. The Renegade. We were trying to get away from men, men in black with guns. And as we did…Giratina came. We were carried off, and…and we were hurt. But we managed to escape. And Teleport to here." _Alakazam explained.

"OK. These men in black? Did they have an 'H' on their chests?" Dean asked, tapping on his chest for emphasis.

"_Yes." _Alakazam nodded. She set her Abra down and her eyes narrowed, glowing bright blue. It occurred to Dean how much like the animé it looked.

"_Now. I thank you for your kindness and assistance, but I must take my leave." _Alakazam announced.

"W-what? Where the hell are you going?" Emily exclaimed.

"_To take revenge. Take care of my Abra," _Alakazam said.

Dean stepped forward.

"Um…Alakazam…I…your kid, he's…" Dean stammered, not sure how to tell this Pokémon that her child was dead.

A tear dropped from Alakazam's eye. The tear reflected the glow of her eyes.

"Bury _my Abra." _Alakazam corrected herself.

And she disappeared in a blast of blue.

Emily turned on her heel and leapt onto Reshiram's back.

"Where are you going?" Darkrai asked. Dean cocked his head curiously. Emily looked at them like they were complete and utter imbeciles.

"We have to stop her," Emily said.

"Um…why?" Dean asked.

"Seriously? 'To take revenge'? For God's sake, have you never seen a movie? Any time anyone says that, they go too far, and people die!" Emily said, throwing her arms in the air incredulously.

"I dunno, maybe we should just leave her?" Dean proposed, but he didn't sound certain. He'd seen the look in Alakazam's eyes. She was out for blood.

Dean sighed.

"OK then, let's go." Darkrai said.

_The Distortion World…_

Giratina watched. From the dark hell that it had been confined to for one thousand years, it observed its enemies moving.

It had to restrain a laugh.

For none of them knew the true power of a legend. The true power of the only Pokémon said to rival Arceus, the Original One himself.

Giratina coiled its long body and prepared itself.

In a ripple in the air in front of it, like a pond after having a stone dropped in it, an image was displayed. Men in black, the men from before who had pursued it in this strange new world. On another ripple-screen, Alakazam. Its prey from earlier.

She would not escape again.

_Outside St. Mary Redcliffe Church, Bristol…_

Alakazam appeared in a flash in the deserted carpark.

She looked around, eyes aglow. Yes, she thought to herself. They were definitely here. The good thing about having Psychic abilities and an IQ of 5000 was that you were never ambushed. Well, people could try.

She remembered the Pokémon poachers from the old world. They had tried to ambush her as well. She had left them without weapons or _clothes_ in the middle of Cerulean Cave.

This encounter would end similarly.

Alakazam's eyes darted to the black van beside her. That was them. A large, silver cylinder was set up behind it. A man stood guard, a man with one of those weapons that seemed to be so popular here. A gun. He hadn't seen her yet.

She raised her spoons and they became surrounded by a blue aura. He became surrounded with a similar light before being lifted into the air and slammed him into the van. She did it thrice more until he went limp.

She quickly disposed of the cylinder with a Psyshock that left it a smoking scrapheap.

She progressed up to the church door.

Alakazam threw open the doors with a telekinetic blast.

She walked into the dark church. Nobody here. But that was impossible. She had definitely detected minds here, more than one…

Suddenly, a red dot appeared on her chest. She cocked her head. What was this?

Suddenly, a gunshot went off and her head snapped up. She raised one spoon.

The bullet ceased its flight in mid-air. She glared up at the sniper who stood by the organ on the upper levels of the church.

Alakazam hurled him down with a Psychic attack. He landed with a sickening thud.

For Abra, she thought, as more guns opened fire.

_Outside…_

Reshiram had heard the gunshots from the church and immediately landed.

Emily vaulted off of her back first, followed by Aegislash and Darkrai, then Dean.

They waited for a pause in the onslaught of bullets before bursting into the house of worship.

**OK! Double digits babyyyyy! Wow, three chapters, one day! This might be the last one, more than likely it will be. Thanks for reading everybody! **

…

**DOUBLE DIGITS BABBBBAAAAAYYYY**


	11. Chapter 11

**Heyeyey! Chapter 11. The sad thing is, this the farthest I've gotten in a fic (I only joined in December though, so…) but still, thanks for stickin' with me! And thanks to Wolfsthrope Van Schlieffen for the big shoutout he did to me in his fic, A New World, A Pokémon World. He's a boss.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. Good lord, it is exhausting to type this.**

Alakazam whirled around as Dean, Emily, Aegislash, Darkrai, and (with much difficulty due to her enormous size) Reshiram burst into the church.

"_Stay out of this!" _Alakazam screeched in anger. She used Psychic to tear one of the pews up and hurl the bench at them.

Aegislash cut it into with a Sacred Sword.

"OK. I'm going to take her down," Darkrai said.

"Hey," Emily said. "Don't hurt her. Just…Dark Void her or something. She's just trying to avenge her kid. I mean, who can blame her?"

More men in black took aim in the upper levels and fired. Dean leapt behind a pew, the bullets hammering against the wood.

Dean clenched his jaw as he began to panic. Now was not a good time to black out and unleash holy hell on everyone. True, he _would _probably take out the Hunter gunmen…along with everyone else.

Along with Emily.

He stood. Now wasn't the time for panic. Now was the time to man up and actually _do _something.

"Aegislash!" Dean yelled. The Ghost/Steel type turned to him and blurred, appearing beside him.

"My lord?" Aegislash said, tilting its sword slightly in the closest thing it could do to a bow.

"Yeah, first off, stop saying that, and secondly…you can split up your sword and shield individually, right?" Dean asked as the Hunter snipers paused to reload.

"I can," Aegislash said.

"OK…I have an idea." Dean smiled, and he explained.

Alakazam sent off another telekinetic blast that sent Darkrai's Focus Blast spinning off course.

She would not be denied her revenge.

She did not care who got in her way.

Darkrai blurred and was suddenly right above her. Alakazam charged her own Focus Blast, and it sent the Pitch-Black Pokémon flying. He landed with a crash, smashing a pew in half at the opposite end of the church.

More gunshots. Alakazam hurled Focus Blast after Focus Blast at the gunmen. She heard cries of pain as sections of the roof caved in.

Reshiram launched a torrent of fire at her.

Alakazam leapt, avoiding the Flamethrower attack.

Reshiram advanced, shooting off a Dragon Pulse that vaporized one of the pews.

Alakazam blasted a blinding wave of light, a Dazzling Gleam attack, that sent Reshiram twisting backwards and slamming into the wall at the opposite ends of the church.

Suddenly, a Shadow Ball slammed into Alakazam's back and now it was _her _turn to be sent spinning.

She turned and gaped.

The boy stood there. Dean Regan, his name was. But what he was _holding _was the strange part. In his left hand he gripped Aegislash's sword, and in the other he held the shield.

"I've always wanted to say this." Dean smiled. He spread his arms. "Come at me bro."

Alakazam, quite unfortunately, did.

She launched a Focus Blast. Dean smiled wider and brought up his shield. The Focus Blast seemed to disintegrate on contact.

"Ghost type," Dean said.

Alakazam growled.

Dean charged.

"Aegislash, Sacred Sword!" Dean yelled. To his satisfaction, the gunfire seemed to have actually stopped. Maybe the snipers were enjoying this spectacle.

Aegislash's sword shone orange and Dean brought it down on Alakazam.

But he was stopped mid-way.

Alakazam held his arms in place with a Psychic attack.

"_I WILL NOT BE DENIED MY REVENGE." _She snarled viciously and tossed Dean aside. He slammed into a wall, and he heard bones snap.

"Dean!" Emily yelled. She started to run to him. Apparently though, the gunmen had snapped out of their trance and were firing again.

"Leave me, it's just a broken rib!" Dean cried, but was soon silenced by a stabbing pain in his side.

Suddenly, a black blur slammed into Alakazam and sent her sprawling. Darkrai stood above her.

"Legends aren't as easy to beat as you seem to think." He snarled and lifted a Shadow Ball in his hands.

Suddenly, there was a massive ripple in the air. Everyone stopped. Everyone looked.

Suddenly, the ripple turned dark and Giratina burst out of it.

"_Alakazam." _It growled.

Darkrai turned and without a moment's hesitation, hurled the Shadow all at Giratina.

The Renegade Pokémon countered with a Dragonbreath attack, the green fire roasting through the orb of dark energy.

The Hunters opened fire. Bullets hit Giratina and seemed to do little more than irritate it. It turned and launched another torrent of Dragonbreath that incinerated the soldiers on the left side of the church.

"Jesus." Emily swore.

Giratina lunged at Alakazam and opened its jaws. Alakazam fired a Dazzling Gleam attack directly into the monstrous Pokémon's mouth.

Giratina screeched in pain and reeled.

Darkrai launched a Dark Pulse that hit Giratina and drove it back _through _the church wall and out into the carpark.

Dean struggled to his feet. Emily rushed over to him and helped him up. Aegislash leapt from his hands and reformed into his Blade Forme.

"Master?" he asked, concerned.

"_Don't. Call. Me. That. _And yeah, I'm fine," Dean said.

"Not after I'm through with you," a voice from behind them said.

They turned to see Christopher striding towards them.

**OK! So, that's a nice place to leave it. Expect an update maybe later on today. Have a nice Sunday. And oh, it just occurred to me that it's Sunday, and this chapter took place in a church…haha. Woops. Sorry God. :(**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hi! I have like, literally nothing to say this time 'round! So, on with the story.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.**

Dean hadn't seen this guy before. But obviously, Emily had. She snatched up the guns of one of the fallen gunman and aimed it at the approaching man in the suit.

"Hunter?" Dean asked.

Emily nodded. Her aim didn't waver.

The man held his hands up in the air and made a face of mock-terror.

"Oh please, don't shoot me, little girl. Whatever will I do?" He grinned. Dean was now sure he didn't like this guy.

"I'll do it," Emily said.

"Sure." The man nodded. Then, with unnatural speed, he snatched a Poké Ball from his pocket.

"Aegislash, stop him!" Dean yelled. Aegislash blurred and raised his sword, preparing to bring it down on the stranger's neck.

It was too late. The man clicked the button on his Poké Ball and in a flash of white light, a Dragonite stood between him and Aegislash.

"Fire Punch," the man said. Dragonite threw a punch, fist wreathed in fire, and Aegislash was sent spiralling into a crucifix, that then proceeded to crash down on him.

"Oh, great," Dean muttered.

"Dragonite. Take them down. I have something to see," the man said.

Dragonite grunted. Emily trained her gun on the man's back.

"Try it. Dragonite will cross the distance before you can even pull the trigger," he said haughtily.

"He won't get to me in time. You're bluffing." Emily shook her head.

"No. Not to you." The man agreed, whispering now. "To Dean. Dragonite can tear him _limb from limb, _before you could even blink."

Emily bit her lip. And slowly, lowered the gun.

The man strode out of the hole in the wall and Dragonite charged.

_Outside…_

Giratina's red eyes narrowed as it saw the human come into view, striding lazily from the destroyed building.

The human caught his eye. He didn't run, didn't tremble. Far from it, the man winked at Giratina and leaned against the cracked wall.

Giratina, however, had bigger concerns.

Alakazam sent a Shadow Ball its way, which the Renegade Pokémon ducked under.

Then Darkrai appeared suddenly in between them and launched a Dark Pulse that sent them all careening backwards.

Giratina tore through a lamppost and ploughed into the asphalt.

The human crept forward. He held a camera. A red light shone next to the lens.

Giratina snarled. The human backed off, but didn't lower the recording device.

Darkrai and Alakazam came at Giratina again. Alakazam leapt and launched a Psyshock.

Giratina roared an unearthly roar and swung its mighty tail. The tail bored directly _through _the attack and hit the Psychic type, sending her spinning in the air. Darkrai blurred and caught the unconscious Pokémon.

Then he locked eyes with the towering Ghost/Dragon type.

"_Arceus stood no chance against me. What are you, in the face of Him?" _Giratina sneered. It spread its wings wide and rose into the air.

Darkrai hurled a Shadow Ball without reply. Giratina gave an almighty beat of its wings and an Ominous Wind threw the Pitch Black Pokémon's attack back at him, sending him crashing through the windscreen of a car. Giratina smashed through the vehicle with a Dragon Claw. If it could've smiled with its beak-like mouth, it would have.

But then it raised its claw and its demonic face fell.

"_Substitute!" _was all Giratina had time to say before Darkrai came crashing down with a Thunder attack. The bolt of lightning scorched every inch of the huge legendary and sent it to its knees.

The human frowned distastefully from behind his camera. He muttered something to himself.

"You asked me what I was compared to Arceus? Not much. Not much, usually. But you killed my allies. You killed Arceus, you tore me from my home, and you killed that poor, _poor, _Abra. But do you know what pisses me off _the most?" _Darkrai snarled as he stood over the fallen dragon.

"You killed my best friend. Zapdos. Consider that from him."

And his words were echoed by a shout of thunder.

_Back Inside…_

Dragonite was driving Aegislash's blade into the floor for the fifth time by the time that Reshiram had awoken.

The Vast White Pokémon raised her head groggily.

Her piercing blue eyes fixed on Dragonite. She reared up, tossing aside the pile of rubble that had rested on her chest and wings. Dragonite turned.

Reshiram launched a Dragon Pulse that sent the Dragonite back into the wall, snapping pews like twigs.

Reshiram stood up straight, rising up to her full and considerable height. She glanced at Dean and Emily with concern in her eyes.

Emily nodded. Dean gave a thumbs-up. Aegislash groaned.

Dragonite stood back up and lowered his head. He bellowed, a low, menacing roar. He became surrounded by an aura of red energy, and he leapt in a Dragon Rush attack, barrelling not at Reshiram…

…But at the children.

Emily reacted quickly. She dived out of the way, nimbly rolling and coming up behind the wreckage of the church altar.

Dean, however, was not so quick.

Dragonite barrelled towards him and, thanks to Dean's hasty attempt at a sidestep, grazed his leg with the Dragon Rush. But unfortunately, it was still enough to sear his leg and send him spinning. Dean's head cracked off a pew and he fell, unconscious.

Reshiram roared.

She blasted an orange sphere from her mouth, like a miniature sun. It rose into the air and suddenly, burst apart.

A shower of meteors made of the same fiery light rained down on Dragonite. The Pokémon managed to avoid a few, but then was hit in the arm, and the second slammed him to the floor, leaving him to the relentless downpour of Draco Meteors.

"Dean!" Emily said, running over to him.

He didn't respond.

_Outside…_

Giratina had managed to throw off Darkrai and was now sending a DragonBreath attack at the speeding legendary.

This was not working.

The fight had droned on too long, and the Renegade Pokémon was getting exhausted. He knew he couldn't keep this up much longer. Then, suddenly, like a miracle, it happened.

The noise of sirens.

Police cars roared into view, skidding to a halt in what was roughly a circle. The human, who had been videoing Giratina all this time, avoiding any explosions, carefully stepped out of view behind a police car.

Darkrai shot one last glare at Giratina before sinking into the ground.

Giratina roared and shot into the sky. He had just enough strength to open a portal to the Distortion World before he drifted into unconsciousness.

_An hour later…_

Reshiram soared over a bustling road, Bristol no more than a collection of twinkling lights in the far distance behind them.

Alakazam lay on Reshiram's back, still unconscious. Emily had insisted on bringing her. Darkrai wasn't too sure that was wise, but he didn't want to argue with an upset Emily. He was, by definition, not a suicidal Pokémon.

Dean was also awake. And he was pissed.

"You could've taken the shot at that Hunter and killed him! Now he's escaped and God knows what he's doing with the video of Giratina!" Dean yelled at Emily.

"Oh, because it's so easy for a thirteen year old girl to kill a man in cold blood!" Emily retorted. Dean was just being unreasonable now. Thankfully, he wasn't bringing up the real reason Emily hadn't taken the shot.

"Untrue," Aegislash said.

Dean and Emily turned, as did Darkrai. Even Reshiram glanced back.

"Untrue. You would have killed him, the man, the Hunter. It was master. Dean. Dragonite would have killed my master but for you." Aegislash elaborated.

Dean glanced at Emily.

"Is that true?" he asked.

"…Yeah. Yeah, it's true." Emily nodded.

"I…I don't know what to say," Dean said. And for once, he actually didn't.

"Shut up," Emily said and kissed him lightly.

**Pairing comes to fruition at last! Hurrah. **

…

**Goodbye. Also, before someone says that Emily and Dean barely know each other, I've cheekily edited chapter nine and the little timeskip. So now it's been a month since the Hunter facility incident.**

**Goodbye for real.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey! After the eventful events of last chapter, I've decided to pile on the plot-relevance once again!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. Nintendo does. **_**Or do they? **_**It's a conspiracy, I tell you!**

_Four days later, London, England…_

Dean Regan strode out of the coffee shop, sipping from a cappuccino. His eyes darted left and right as soon as his feet touched the sidewalk.

Good. No policeman. No Hunters. No anything.

He walked forwards, and put on a pair of sunglasses as he turned left.

After the events at St. Mary Redcliffe church in Bristol, the Hunters and their contacts in the police had scaled up the whole 'manhunt' thing. Now there were eyes on them everywhere. Dean and Emily had to be careful around anything as slight as security cameras.

Dean had, as such, forsaken his beloved leather jacket in favour of a pair of sunglasses and a cashmere coat that was _so _not his style.

He turned a corner and pressed himself to a wall as he saw a security camera above the window of a jewellery store swerve his way. He carefully slid along it before coming to a door. He opened it.

Dean walked into a dimly lit room. He set down his sunglasses on an old mahogany table.

"It's me!" Dean called out. A door at the opposite end of the room swung open. Emily emerged, baseball bat in hand.

Dean frowned.

"What the hell are you going to do with that?" He asked, gesturing to the bat.

"Just in case it was, like, a Hunter or something." she mumbled.

"They've got guns and you think you're just going to club them to death or something?" Dean said preposterously.

"Look, I didn't have much time to think it through," Emily said defensively, but with humour in her tone.

Dean kissed her. He withdrew and glanced around their 'temporary accommodation', as it were. They'd managed to find this place the day after the Brixton incident, and were now basically squatting.

"Where's Darkrai?" Dean asked.

"Out. Said he needed some air or something," Emily answered, sitting down.

Dean nodded and reached into his pocket. He took out a Poké Ball. They had only stolen the crude prototype that the Hunters had invented yesterday, but they'd managed to pinch two.

Dean sent out Aegislash.

The Pokémon looked around.

"Why have I been released?" he asked.

"Um…because you've been in there for like, four hours and I assume it's cramped," Dean said.

"I thank you for your concern." Aegislash nodded. He still didn't move.

"OK," Dean said.

"What am I do to?" Aegislash asked. Dean laughed. Then he realised the Pokémon was dead serious.

"Oh my god. Find something to do, man! Live a little!" Emily said exasperatedly. She picked up a Poké Ball from an armchair and released Alakazam. They'd befriended the vengeance-obsessed Pokémon after saving her from the St. Mary Redcliffe church. She still wanted to kill the Hunters _and _Giratina, but her gratitude outweighed her bloodlust by now.

"Here. Go look for Darkrai for us. He's been gone a while." Dean suggested.

Alakazam nodded. Aegislash bowed.

Dean was _reaaaallly _getting sick of that by now.

"I'd better go with them." Emily sighed and stood.

"Sure. Don't be seen or anything!" Dean called after her as she exited the room.

The door shut.

But Dean was _not _alone.

_Westminster Bridge, London…_

Darkrai gripped the edge of the bridge, his head just about peering over the top of the railing. His blue eye cast an eerie blue glow on the sidewalk of the bridge.

He was looking in the direction of six black vans, parked at the end of the bridge. Alongside them were two police cars. And in front of the vehicles were roadblocks, and 'STOP' signs.

And men with rifles positioned at each roadblock.

Darkrai hadn't gone out looking for trouble, but it had come for _him, _apparently.

He didn't know what he could do, though. For all he knew, the policemen were only following orders. He couldn't maim them for doing their job.

But the Hunters…

"_Darkrai, where the hell are you?" _Emily's voice rang out in his mind.

Alakazam had established a telepathic link between her and the rest of the group when she had agreed to join their little team.

"_Westminster Bridge. Don't come." _Darkrai sent back.

"_What? Why?" _Emily asked.

"_Hunters. Policemen. They've set up a roadblock at the end of the bridge, nobody in or out. Again, don't come. I'm gonna try and see what they're doing, but if there's four of us we'll get noticed." _Darkrai explained.

"_Right. We'll hang back then. Tell us if we're needed," _Emily said.

"_Right." _Darkrai nodded, even though he then noticed that Emily had no bloody idea whether he was nodding or not.

Darkrai climbed up onto the bridge and sank into the ground.

_Over London…_

Reshiram charged through yet another cloud, the heat from her tail reducing it to steam.

She was bored.

Dean had suggested she look around for any Hunter vehicles or signs of Giratina around the city, but so far she'd seen nothing.

Reshiram didn't consider herself an especially _violent _Pokémon, but this was just ridiculously boring. She'd become accustomed to a life of fleeing and fighting over the past month, but now it seemed they'd actually found a half-decent hiding place. They were winning.

And she _hated _it.

Reshiram dived, soaring over Westminster Bridge. She was so high up that she couldn't be seen. However, she could see what was going on down there.

She could see the black vans.

"_Reshiram, hang back!" _Darkrai's voice shouted in her mind.

"_What for?" _Reshiram queried.

"_I'm trying to scope out what they're up to first. Now, stay there." _Darkrai snapped and did the mental equivalent of mic-dropping. Reshiram frowned. But she did as told.

_Westminster Bridge…_

Darkrai rose from the ground behind the van farthest to the right. He pressed himself against it and peered out through the window.

He found a Hunter, in full uniform in the next van, staring at him from the driver's seat with the window down.

They stared at each other for a second.

Darkrai grabbed the Hunter from his seat, yanked him out onto the bridge and smacked his head against the van. Darkrai unceremoniously stuffed him in a heap into the back seat.

The Pitch-Black Pokémon moved forward and sank into the ground once more, sliding underneath another vehicle and coming up on the other side of the roadblock.

He was crouched behind a group of men in labcoats. A man in a wheelchair with its back turned was in the middle of the huddle of scientists, who all carried iPads and laptops.

"Yes sir, there's definitely something down there. There was a breach at the bottom the Thames." One of the scientists nodded.

The man in the wheelchair spoke. He pushed himself up further in his chair, using the massive oxygen tank hooked up to the chair as leverage.

"Life signs?" the man rasped. His voice was like a deeper version of fingernails on a blackboard.

"Yes, well. As you'd expect, sir. It materialised at the bottom of a pretty deep river. Dead," the scientist said.

"Mmm. How long?" the man in the chair asked.

"That's the thing sir. The Pokémon in the lake was dead before it breached."

"Have you identified it's species?"

"Yes, sir, just now. It's called a Zapdos, sir."

**BANG. **_**That **_**cannot be good, eh? Anyway, sorry for taking so long, but I was tired and I recently started a Randomized Nuzlocke challenge on my Pokémon White ROM, which I'm now hooked on. But anyway, thanks for readin'!**


	14. Chapter 14

**OK, after the big 'oh s**t' ending of last chapter, I'm sure you're all very excited to see the follow-up. Um. I hope. Please. Please God. But anyway, enjoy! And thanks to LovingTogepi for the follow/fave.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon at all.**

_Westminster Bridge…_

Darkrai seethed.

Zapdos. These Hunter bastards had found Zapdos. His best friend, killed by Giratina, now in the hands of these monsters.

This would not stand. This was disrespect of the highest degree.

Darkrai stood. One of the scientists turned. Darkrai flicked his wrist and a Dark Pulse sent the man into the air. He slammed back down a few metres away.

One of the scientists pulled a gun. Darkrai blurred, lifted the man clear off the ground and hurled him over the edge of the bridge.

One of the scientists grabbed the wheelchair-bound man and began to wheel him away.

Darkrai sent a Focus Blast that rended the scientists arm from his body.

The Pitch-Black Pokémon strode towards the man in the chair.

_London, Dean and Emily's temporary accommodation…_

Dean knew he wasn't alone in the apartment from the moment the door shut behind Emily.

He stood and lifted a knife off the table. Whoever was in here wouldn't be taking him down without a fight.

Dean opened the door that led to his cramped room. He prepared to lunge, grip tightening on the knife.

Nothing. The room was exactly as he'd left it.

He cursed as he heard the windows from the living room break.

Footsteps.

"Where is he?!" a voice yelled. American. _The _American, from the Hunter facility.

"He's here," said another voice, the man from the church.

Dean gritted his teeth. It was a small apartment. They would find him in two seconds flat anyway. At least this way, he was going down with dignity.

Dean stepped out into the living room and came face to face with the two men. A Houndoom was sitting at the American's feet. The man in the suit, the man from the church who had sent out a Dragonite, was just standing there, grinning.

"Dean! How nice of you to join us. We were just talking about you, weren't we, Jones?" he said. The American didn't respond. He obviously didn't approve of his subordinate's cheerful demeanour.

Dean shifted his hand slightly so that the two Hunters could quite clearly see his knife.

The suited man's grin just widened.

"Pretty vicious, Dean. Pretty vicious. Then again, with what you've done to our facility and, well, a couple of other places, you'd know all about vicious, wouldn't you?" he taunted. Dean had to restrain himself from gutting the son of a bitch right there and then.

"Get to the point, Christopher." Jones said.

"Oh, right. The point." Christopher sighed. Then he pulled out a Desert Eagle pistol.

"You're coming with us."

Dean laughed.

"I don't bloody think so, mate." He scoffed. Though he was pretty terrified, he managed a cocky smile. He hoped it was convincing.

"Don't try to act confident. Dishonesty is unbefitting of a goody-two-shoes like yourself." Jones drawled. Then, with lightning speed, he flicked out his two Derringer pistols from the holsters concealed by his trenchcoat.

Wonderful, Dean thought. That was _three _guns pointed at him now.

Dean moved first.

He swiped the knife at Jones, who was taken off guard. The blade sliced through his trenchcoat and drew blood.

"You brat!" he snarled and kicked Dean in the stomach. Dean doubled over. Jones lifted him quite easily with a single hand, gripping the collar of his shirt.

"I don't think you want to do that." Dean choked out.

"Why shouldn't I?" Jones hissed, slamming Dean against the wall.

Houndoom growled, a snarl that sounded like an encouragement.

"Ask Rankshaw." Dean grinned. Jones narrowed his eyes. That got him, Dean thought with satisfaction.

"Actually, funny enough, he's right." Christopher commented. Jones glanced quizzically at him.

"We lay a finger on him and he gets scared, then our dear Dean goes berserk and brings down the house on us. I suppose we _do _have another way of getting him to stop interfering while Project Z-0 is going down…"

Jones shook his head.

"When there's no other way of detaining him, _then _we use it."

"There _is _no other way."

Jones gritted his teeth. He hated to admit it, but Christopher was right.

"We know." Christopher announced. Dean raised an eyebrow.

"Last chance to back down, Christopher. This is valuable leverage. We can use it to detain him _another time…" _Jones warned.

"We know," Christopher continued, "what you are, Dean. What you are, and how you took down our base. And your old house. And, I'd say _this _is the kicker, Dean, we know how your mother died."

Dean paled.

Christopher just kept on grinning with savage triumph in his cold blue eyes.

**OK. Shit just got real.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Well, I bet you're all dying to know what'll happen next after last time. I won't delay you.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, Nintendo does.**

_Westminster Bridge…_

Darkrai stood behind the man in the wheelchair, charging a Shadow Ball that would end the man's life.

That would teach him to desecrate _his _friend's remains.

"I wouldn't if I were you…" the man wheezed.

"Why the hell not?" Darkrai asked, his tone measured, brimming with a sort of cold, tranquil fury.

"Dean Regan is currently in possession of my admins, Christopher and Jones. I will order them to kill him if you do not..." but then the man paused, launching into a coughing fit. Darkrai saw blood splatter the ground below the chair. He was hacking up blood.

"…If you do not surrender to my men, and allow yourself to be taken into custody." The man finished.

Darkrai paused.

"You could be bluffing."

"And unfortunately for you, I also could not." The man replied.

Silence.

Suddenly, gunshots cracked the tense quiet and Darkrai toppled into blackness.

_Above London…_

Dean sat in the cabin of the black helicopter, hands shackled behind his back.

He didn't get quite why he was shackled though. It wasn't like he'd be legging it from thousands of feet up.

Jones sat beside him. His Houndoom was curled up at the man's feet.

"Where exactly are we going?" Dean asked.

"Home base, my little friend." Christopher answered from the pilot's seat.

Dean nodded. He still felt ashamed, horrible, revolted. At himself. He'd given up the chance to stop this 'Z-0' thing all to satisfy his own curiosity.

He'd left Emily.

The helicopter suddenly took a sharp swerve as a stab of fire flashed in the window.

"Gah!" Christopher cried in surprise and ducked a bullet that shattered the windscreen.

"Sniper!" Jones snarled and stood, sitting in the co-pilot's seat. Dean tried to get up, but his ankles were tethered to his seat.

Another gunshot sounded, and it was close to Dean's ear. He ducked instinctively…and heard a yelp.

Jone's Houndoom had been shot.

Dean realized. It been getting up, maybe in panic, maybe about to attack Dean…

And had been shot.

Christopher raised his phone and took a picture of, presumably, whoever was shooting at them.

"One of yours?!" he shouted, showing a picture to Dean, tossing the phone onto his lap.

Dean nearly fainted at the sight of a gruesome, mangled and scorched face in the photo.

Not out of fear.

But out of recognition.

_Westminster Bridge…_

Emily crept along the bridge silently, ducking down as a patrolling Hunter passed.

She shot a glance at Alakazam, who was crouched further up the bridge.

Alakazam nodded and raised one of her spoons.

The Hunter was surrounded by a blue aura and he fell, unconscious.

Emily snatched up his pistol and moved further along the bridge.

She hadn't heard from Darkrai, and was worried. He could've been captured.

She hadn't heard from Dean either. That was what was really eating at her.

"_OK. Aegislash. Another guard up here. Take him out," _Emily said.

A moment later, a guard further up the bridge collapsed to the sound of snapping bones.

Emily sprinted, making a dash for the roadblock. She pressed herself against a black Hunter van.

"_I'm in. Alakazam, come with me, please. Aegislash, stay there and if anyone comes your way…"_

"_I know what I must do. Carry on with the mission." _The Ghost and Steel type replied curtly.

Emily suddenly looked up as two choppers swooped through the air and pulled up, hovering over the Thames.

Two ropes, each with what looked like claws at the end, dropped from each helicopters.

They splashed into the water.

Emily watched in horror as slowly, too slowly, they drew a soaked, bloody, feathered corpse. A Zapdos.

"_Bastards." _Reshiram gasped in Emily's mind.

"Z-0 is now commencing! Ready the armament construct!" a raspy, weak voice said from somewhere behind the roadblock.

A Hunter opened the back of the van across from Emily. He, and three of his comrades, hefted out an enormous metal box.

Emily had to stop this.

She tightened her grip on the pistol. She looked around the corner and to her horror, saw Darkrai lying on the ground in the centre of a huddle of scientists.

She aimed the gun at the back of one of their heads.

She hadn't killed before. This was new. This was stone bloody terrifying. She shouldn't have to kill anyone. She was thirteen. This was insane. This was ridiculous, obscene, this was…

The scientist toppled, blood gushing from his head. Emily's pistol barrel smoked.

She'd fired. On instinct.

_Killer _instinct.

Two Hunters faced her now, weapons trained.

"I didn't…I didn't..." she stuttered. But she did. She did pull the trigger, knowing he'd turn round. She did kill him in cold blood.

"Kill her!" the raspy voice shouted.

"No!" a man shouted. An all too familiar voice.

A man limped into view.

He was covered from head-to-toe in bandages. The small bit of skin that was exposed was red raw.

"Rankshaw?" Emily asked, uncertain but at the same time dreadfully sure.

"Yes." He growled and raised a weapon of his own. A Poké Ball. A Banette was released.

The grinning ghost sprang and Emily fired her gun. The bullets whizzed through the Pokémon.

A Shadow Ball hit the ground next to her. The impact sent her spinning, and her head slammed against the van.

Emily staggered, dazed.

And then she fell, blacking out.

_A rooftop, London…_

The helicopter touched down and Dean was harshly shoved out of the vehicle. He fell to his knees on the rooftop. Jones yanked him up and slammed one of those fold-out chairs in front of him.

"Sit." He snarled.

Dean did.

"Can I have one too?" Christopher grinned tauntingly. Jones gave him an extremely rude sign.

Christopher sat down in front of Dean anyway.

"So. That sniper took out an engine part when he shot at us. It'll be a five-minute repair at most, so don't go trying anything. We _will _find you," Christopher smiled.

Dean glared at him. He was still getting over the shock of seeing the sniper's face.

Though it was distorted, marred by horrific burns, Dean couldn't forget the face he was still mourning, the face he still had nightmares about.

His brother's face.

"You recognized the shooter, didn't you?" Christopher asked.

Dean didn't answer. He had no intention of answering this bastard's questions.

"OK, let's try a different approach." Christopher nodded and suddenly grabbed a gun from one of the grunts standing nearby. He smashed the barrel off Dean's face and didn't stop smiling for a second.

Dean cried out. He knew _that _would leave a mark.

"Tell me who he was, or I won't tell you why you're a freak. Why you're a monster. Why _you _killed your mother." Christopher whispered, leaning close.

Dean stifled a gasp. _He _killed his mother? Of course, he didn't put it past Christopher to lie, but…

"My brother," Dean said. He felt sick when he did. He had sold out who he was sure was his brother. He was a monster indeed.

"Well, Dean. I find that difficult to believe. You're brother died at the Bullring. I should know. I was there."

Dean's head snapped up.

"What?" he said.

"I was there. After Giratina escaped from the Bullring, me and a squad of Hunters went in there and silenced the witnesses. All of them. In fact, Dean, I shot your brother myself. He was dead, trust me."

Dean was trembling with anger. He wished that whatever beast that lay inside him, it would emerge to beat the shit out of this despicable human being.

But it didn't come.

"It was him. I am _sure. _Now, please. Tell me." Dean breathed, trying desperately to keep the rage from his voice. He knew it would do him no good to get pissed. He would just be smacked again, or worse.

Christopher looked at him and cocked his head curiously.

"Ha. You actually do think it was him. Funny. OK, then, Deany boy, storytime. Here's how you became what you are today."

**HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I AM FEELING SO EVIL LEAVING ON A NOTE LIKE THAT! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!**


	16. Chapter 16

**After not one, but two incredibly evil endings, here is the chapter you've hopefully all been waiting for. The big flashback.**

**The explanation cometh.**

**Disclaimer: Pokémon belongs to Nintendo. Goddammit, why can't they share with me?  
**

_Thirteen years ago, Royal London Hospital…_

Arceus could remember the pain of dying. He still felt it. He still felt every searing atom that his eldest son had poured into him with that Dragonbreath.

He felt only that pain.

And that was beginning to fade like everything else.

He wasn't certain how he was still a conscious, sentient being. He'd seen and heard his body smoulder. He'd smelled his Normal Plate melt and his skin crisp.

Arceus supposed legends just _don't die._

He didn't know where his disembodied form was. It was a white room. There were beds. It looked like something the humans called…what was it…a hospital.

That was it. A place of healing.

Suddenly, the world seemed to flicker out of focus. It seemed to be slipping away, an image floating off into a distance that was just endless darkness.

Arceus was dying.

He shook his magnificent head. He thrashed, using all of his power to hang on. To keep gripping onto some part of life.

The world, as it happened, came back.

He breathed deeply. He didn't have much time. He wasn't sure if he had any time at all.

He charge for the door and miraculously, his ghostly, bodiless form slipped through it. He emerged into a hallway.

It was strange.

Humans milled up and down the corridor, but they were not dressed like they should've been in _his _world.

And where the Chansey, the Audino? The healing Pokémon?

He had no time for wondering, though, as he fought with all his godly might to hold on as his world went out of focus.

He charge blindly down the hall until he found another door. He stepped through.

A man, an old man, lay in the bed in this room. He had a wristband saying 'Erik Temple, aged 83. Terminal patient care ward'. He had tubes, metal tanks, hooked up all over him.

Arceus hesitated no longer.

He wasn't sure if it would work, but he'd been close to death before, when Giratina had launched its first violent war on the Pokémon world at the dawn of all creation.

He had lost his form then. He'd taken on a host. A human host. He'd taken the form over and lived on.

Arceus focused his remaining strength and leapt.

Arceus heard the man, Erik Temple, scream at the top of his hoarse lungs. He screeched higher and higher as images of the God of another universe flooded his dying mind.

He sat up, and roared so loud that his lungs strained to produce such volume. Arceus struggled with the man's mind, trying to calm him.

It wouldn't work.

The man's voice gave out and his mouth remained agape, rasping, struggling for air.

Arceus found what was wrong. He found the defect, a terminal disease.

It was called 'old age'.

Erik wasn't expected to live long, according to his memories. His family had extraordinary longevity, but Erik was obviously the exception.

Arceus thrashed around in the man's feeble mind. He struggled to escape.

And then he burst out.

And for one terrible moment, Erik Temple saw him.

Then he was gone.

_The roof across from the Hunters, London…_

The sniper disassembled his tripod so quickly and with such familiarity that he barely registered what he was doing.

He stuffed the folded tripod into his rucksack and slung it over his back. He hefted the SVD sniper over his shoulder. He moved down through the dimly it, burnt out and abandoned building.

Burnt and abandoned.

Like himself.

The sniper moved out onto the street and slipped into a back-alley. He found the back entrance to the office building, on the roof of which was parked a helicopter.

He slipped into the building, keeping to the shadows until he reached the stairwell that lead to the rooftop. A security guard was leaning against the door that opened up onto the roof, earbuds stuffed in his ears. He was whistling. 'Way to Fall' by Starsailor.

The sniper walked up to him, and, wasting no time, punched him, hard.

The man stumbled, gripping his nose, which was bleeding profusely. The sniper grabbed his wrist and pulled, shoving him down the stairs. When the guard hit the foot of the stairs his neck was twisted at an odd angle.

The sniper paused at the door, looking at the man's corpse.

He wondered briefly if there was something _wrong _with him.

No, he thought. Of course not. I'm protecting my brother.

There's nothing wrong with me.

And Jack Regan stepped out onto the roof.

_Thirteen years ago, Royal London Hospital…_

Arceus knew that there was not time at all now.

He was gone, essentially.

All the fight was gone. He lay in the hallway outside Erik Temple's room, the man still screaming and flailing inside.

Arceus could barely see straight. Darkness clouded his vision. He had never imagined that he would die like this. Alone in a place of healing, surrounded by his own creations, humans, who could not see him.

Come to think of it, the God of all Pokémon never thought he'd die at all.

How foolish of him.

Arceus tried to crawl towards the door in front of him, marked 'Delivery Room'.

The Alpha Pokémon heaved himself up, and tried desperately to throw himself through the door. Instead, he sort of unceremoniously fell.

Arceus lifted his head, feeling like it weighed a hundred thousand tons.

He saw hope.

A child. A baby, it couldn't have been more than a couple of minutes old.

It wouldn't have the mental capacity to drive him out.

Arceus realized he couldn't hold consciousness much longer. He'd almost be dormant inside the boy unless some emotional stress woke him up.

Not to mention the unpredictable side effects of entering a newborn child.

But he would have to risk it.

Arceus stood shakily, and leapt inside Dean Regan.

And then the baby cried, and the room erupted in flames

_The rooftop…_

Dean's mouth was open the whole time, from when Christopher began the explanation to when he finished with that damned and unfaltering grin.

"No." Dean shook his head. "No, I didn't do it. It can't have been me. And Arceus…no. You're lying."

"I can assure you I'm not. I heard it straight from the horse's mouth, as it were," Christopher said.

"Who? Who told you this bullshit?" Dean asked.

"Erik. Temple. Founder of the Hunters."

"Bull. The guy was eighty three. He's well dead by now. And besides, how would he have known the parts where Arceus was _alone?" _Dean asked.

"Ha. Well, my little friend, I don't get that part myself. He said that after Arceus left him, for a little while at least, they had some sort of link. Erik Temple saw what Arceus saw, apparently. Kind of ridiculous, but hey, I'm not going to say it."

Dean still didn't believe it.

"I-I'm not…I'm not Arceus. I would _know._"

"Apparently not."

Then, suddenly, a gunshot rang out and one of the Hunter guards fell.

Another, and another guard keeled over.

"Take him out!" Jones yelled, drawing his pistols.

The sniper, Dean's brother, stepped into view. He held his rifle.

Jones fired, but the sniper was quicker. He ducked and snatched one of the Derringers from Jones' hand.

He fired twice into the man's stomach. Jones fell and didn't get up.

Christopher grabbed Dean by the wrist, wrapping an arm round his throat.

"One move and he dies!" Christopher snarled. The sniper paused.

Then he fired into Christopher's foot.

He toppled, blood spurting from his ankle.

Dean rushed over to his brother, to Jack.

"You're dead. How are you…?" Dean asked, gesturing to his brother.

"Nnnno t-time," Jack said, voice slurred due to his mangled mouth. "Hhhave to go."

Dean nodded, still amazed.

Christopher reached into his pocket and released Dragonite.

Dragonite flew at him, cloaked in red light. Dragon Rush.

"Nnnno!" Jack slurred, and shoved Dean out of the way. Dragonite's aim was slightly off, but still, Jack was slammed to the floor.

Dean stumbled back from his brother's shove.

And fell straight off the roof.

**OK. So. As my friend Wolfsthrope will be happy to know, a certain duo will be appearing next chapter… **


	17. Chapter 17

**OK. Literally nothing to say this chapter, but I do have a little announcement; that playlist I was talking about in chapter…eight? Eight, I think. Anyway, I am starting to put that together. And thanks to NRMania for his/her review. And yeah, I'd say you guessed it…**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Pokémon. Still don't.**

_Westminster Bridge, London…_

Erik Temple watched with satisfaction as Zapdos's internal organs were cut from his body by the expert surgeons employed by the Hunter organization.

This was it. The test. The ultimate test of all the Hunter's scientific research. Of course, the Hunters couldn't have done it on their own. The Z-0 project was in no small part the doing of Erik's benefactor. The Patriot.

The organs were handed to three grunts, who strode over to the massive mechanical construct at the edge of the bridge.

It was a huge metal replica of Zapdos, but perhaps four times bigger. It had the same long drill-like long beak as the real thing, the same jagged wings and head. It had two Vulcan jet plane cannons beneath its wings. And now, with the internal organs of the real thing, it would possess all that power.

"Is it nearly complete?" Erik asked Rankshaw, who stood beside him.

Rankshaw looked like a mummy, and had since the Hunter facility incident when he'd been attacked by Regan. By Arceus. As it turns out, the extreme heat from Arceus' attack had cauterized Rankshaw's wounds. As soon as the Hunter admin had moved, his wounds had reopened and he'd become scarred as well as burnt. And it wasn't just his body that was scarred, at that.

A compartment in the chest of the replica, the Z-0 armament construct, slid open. The grunts carefully placed the organs in perfectly shaped sunk-in parts of the armours insides.

"Yes. Now, sir. Would you give me the honour?" Rankshaw asked, holding a silver cylinder with a red button on the tip. How stereotypical. How…cinematic.

"No, I'm afraid. I have to do this myself. This is the Hunter's purpose. Our ultimate goal. I must complete it myself." Erik denied. He reached out his hand.

Rankshaw hesitated, but dropped the cylinder into his hand.

Erik lifted the cylinder and clicked.

_Mid-air, over London…_

The slip off the rooftop seemed to last an eternity.

Dean saw everything in slow-motion, in bullet time like in a videogame.

He was scared.

So scared.

And as he fell off the roof, seeing his brother sit up, taking aim at Dragonite with his rifle, he let go.

Of everything.

And Arceus woke up.

Before the God of all Pokémon had time to do anything, something large and blue blurred under him and Arceus's human body landed on its back.

A Latios looked up at him.

"_Hey!" _the legend said in his mind as it swerved past a huge building.

"Latios." Arceus greeted. His voice was the same as the humans. It was disturbing, although he'd been witnessing it for thirteen years.

"_Lord Arceus. As glad as I am to see you, I don't get the form you've taken. Why?" _Latios asked. He knew it was Arceus by simply looking at the eyes. The pupils were red, whilst the whites of his eyes had gone green.

"Not by choice, believe me. Now. Turn us around." Arceus commanded. Latios raised an eyebrow.

"_I have no intention of doing that, with all due respect. Those guys have guns. Did you see the guns? Which those guys have?" _Latios said.

"Fine." Arceus nodded and leapt. His descent stopped in mid-air. The green areas of his eyes went a light blue colour.

Arceus shot back towards the rooftop.

Latios stared after him. On one hand, he was always one of Arceus' most loyal guardians, and didn't think his master was safe at all in this strange world that Latios, and his sister, who was scoping out this city, had emerged into.

Suddenly, from a bridge not too far in the distance, a bolt of lightning shot into the air.

"_So on the other hand…" _Latios muttered, and blasted towards the bridge.

_The rooftop…_

Arceus soared toward the building.

He hated doing this. As grateful as he was to the boy for not simply killing himself, and Arceus with him, after all the tribulation he'd been through, Arceus still hated when Dean had a subconscious urge, to, for instance, save his brother. These urges overrode everything else, and Dean's subconscious did not rest until Arceus had done whatever he was being asked to.

Arceus landed on the rooftop with a crash. The ground cracked beneath his feet.

Dragonite had his fist clenched round Jack's throat. The boy's sniper rifle lay on the ground next to Christopher, who obviously still couldn't walk.

But the immobile admin still had the rifle trained on Arceus.

"I'll shoot! I will!" Christopher warned.

Arceus snapped his fingers and the whites of his eyes changed to a burning orange.

An Overheat blasted from him.

The gun melted, turning to hot slag in Christopher's hands. He yelled in pain.

Arceus picked him up and hurled him through the windscreen of the Hunter's helicopter.

Then he turned to Dragonite, eyes turning purple.

A Dragon Pulse blasted from his left hand. It hit Dragonite and sent him through the door that led to the stairwell.

Dragonite caught itself mid-air with a beat of its wings. It had dropped Jack, who was unconscious.

With a flick of Arceus' wrist, Dragonite flew towards him. Arceus' eyes glowed dark blue and his fist became coated in blue light that emitted freezing bursts of wind.

The Ice Punch caught Dragonite in the chin and sent him to the ground.

Arceus landed and grabbed Jack. He shot into the air.

"Latias!" Arceus called. He knew she'd be here. The Eons never went somewhere without the other. And all legends were obliged to answer if he called.

A red blur blasted past him and then turned, halting in front of him.

"_Lord Arceus! I…oh. Why are you…?" _Latias asked, gesturing to his human form.

"NOT BY CHOICE. Now, take this boy. I don't know, just put him somewhere safe." Arceus instructed.

Latias nodded.

"_Alright. Listen, I sight-shared with my brother and there's something happening at the bridge down there. They call it Westminster or something like that. I don't mean to go out of line, but please, could you check it out for me?" _Latias asked.

Arceus sighed, but nodded.

"Fine. Go," Arceus said firmly and his eyes went a bright pink.

He Teleported away.

_Westminster Bridge…_

Arceus landed on top of a car, and shattered its windows upon impact.

He looked around and suddenly his vision blurred.

"Damn it!" Arceus bellowed. "Regan! Leave me - !"

And then Arceus was gone.

Dean looked up.

He hopped down from the car and leaned back against it.

"Whoa…what the hell?" he breathed. Then he remembered falling off the roof, and of course, _of course, _Arceus would've appeared. Arceus. It was still hard to believe the God Pokémon who not two months ago had just been a cheap Uber Pokémon was now living inside him. And had been for years.

Dean turned and looked up.

And saw Z-0 rise up from the huddle of vehicles, thunder blasting from its metal wings.

**OK, I will stop with the cliffhangers eventually! Sorry the Eons aren't in this much, but they, along with Dean and Jack, will be preforming much badassery next chapter.**


	18. Chapter 18

**As Wolfsthrope Van Schlieffen said in his most recent chapter, we're just churning out dem chapterz today! Also, as he **_**also **_**mentioned, we're planning a collaborative story once his story and this one are done. Which will be sooner than you think.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.**

Z-0 rose up higher and higher, forks of lightning spearing out sporadically from its mechanical body.

Dean Regan watched from one side of the roadblock in fear and Erik Temple watched with savage triumph.

The creature was fully automated, controlled by a platoon of scientists in the back of the huge eighteen-wheeler truck that had pulled up beside them.

Erik heard from the radio in the black van beside him. A news report on the civilians, sighting Z-0 and panicking.

Erik didn't care. He knew that the Patriot would cover it up. The Patriot controlled everything, after all.

More than Erik. For now.

He wheeled himself towards the roadblock. He knew Dean was out there. He would have one final confrontation with the boy, with his enemy, with Arceus, before victory was his.

"Sir!" called Rankshaw from behind him.

"What is it?" Erik rasped, stopping.

"The girl. Emily Naismith. We have her captured."

"We do, Rankshaw. Your point?"

"She is the cause of my pain. She was captured and Dean got angry. He did this to me for _her," _Rankshaw said.

"Get to the point or I'm leaving, you insufferable sociopath." Erik snapped.

"You of all people understand revenge, Mr Temple. Will you allow me to take mine on her?" Rankshaw asked.

Erik looked at him.

"Do what you will. But leave her alive."

And with that, Erik Temple wheeled up to the roadblock and faced his enemy.

Dean looked Temple in the eye as he faced him across the roadblock.

"What are you waiting for? Tell Z-0 to fry me." Dean urged, spreading his arms wide.

"I am not senile, Dean. If I do that, Arceus will emerge and kill me. I just came to speak to you, and to Arceus. I hope he can hear me when I speak." Erik replied. His voice was so calm that it was unsettling.

"To Arceus, I want you to know; I will take everything from you. I will burn your friends and your subjects and your _species _to the ground until there is nothing left but ash and _pain. Pain, like that you have forced me to ENDURE!" _Erik suddenly shrieked the last part of the sentence. "_THIRTEEN YEARS! _Thirteen years of pain and immobility and life. That I didn't want. When you possessed me, even for a few moments, Arceus, your fading power stayed. It stayed. And despite my terminal affliction, my peace that I had made with God, I lived! Like this! _LIKE THIS! _And now. Now, you bastard. I will take your children, your Pokémon, from you. I will not rest. I will not falter. Until you have known the pain that I have. Death to you, Arceus. Death to you, for the life you gave me."

Dean stared in horror at the feral, insane rage in the man's bloodshot eyes.

"And to you, Dean Regan; you should've slit your own throat when you burnt your home to the ground. Because Arceus is bonded to you, and you alone will suffer his pain with him. I am sorry."

And then he turned and wheeled away.

"It's nothing personal." He called.

Dean stood alone in the light of the setting sun.

_Inside one of the Hunter vans…_

Emily's back was pressed to the wall of one of the van, Rankshaw looming over her. He held a knife and a Poké Ball.

One of the grunts shifted unfortunately behind Rankshaw.

"Hey, um, sir, Rankshaw. I'm not, like, stepping out of line or anything, but do you have to do this? She's only a little kid." The grunt mumbled.

Rankshaw turned.

"Give me your gun, kid."

"Um…what for?"

"Don't question me. Just give me your gun, soldier," Rankshaw said and snatched the pistol off the grunt.

He aimed at his head and fired point-blank.

The grunt slumped.

Emily's ears rang. Inside the cramped van, the gunshot sounded like a bomb going off.

"Now. Banette!" Rankshaw called and pressed the button on his Poké Ball. Banette emerged, grinning madly.

"Curse," Rankshaw said.

A vaporous nail formed in the air in front of Emily.

"No, no. Don't." Emily pleaded.

"Here's how it's going to work. I will drive this nail into you. It leaves no mark by itself. But I will make one to match every wound the nail would've inflicted upon you. Now. Let's begin."

_Westminster Bridge…_

Z-0 blasted a searing bolt of white lightning at Dean. He ducked behind a car, which exploded. The impact sent him sprawling. His sleeve caught fire. He quickly took the coat off and hurled it off the side of the bridge.

"Kind of got to like that thing…" Dean murmured as it splashed into the water.

Z-0 spread its wings and the Vulcan cannons under them pointed at Dean.

"Shit!" he yelled.

The began to rotate, bullets spraying like rain. Stabs of flame blasted from the barrel.

Bullets hit the bridge like miniature explosions. Dean sprinted away, frantically darting left and right.

Z-0 tore off after him. The bullets drew nearer.

Then, a bolt of lightning forked out from its wing.

It struck Dean in the leg and sent him down.

His leg had seized up, but was still wildly twitching left and right.

The tip of Z-0's beak retracted to reveal a gun barrel.

A laser sight centred on his forehead.

Dean shut his eyes.

"Keep Emily safe." He said. He wasn't sure who he said it to. It was like a prayer, he supposed.

The gun didn't fire.

Two blurs, one red and the other blue, rammed into the massive machine and drove it back.

The blurs stopped to reveal Latias and Latios. On Latios' back was Jack.

"Thank God…" Dean breathed. He stood.

Latios dived and Jack hopped off.

He held another rifle. All of Arceus' memories were fuzzy at best, but now that he knew it was Arceus, he seemed to remember them better. And he was certain he'd melted down the rifle.

"I carry two," Jack said, answering his unspoken question. "Stole them from a couple of grunts."

"How are you alive?" Dean asked, shaking his head.

"I don't know. I was shot and burned by the Hunters and Giratina, but…I climbed out. And I swear to god, I will protect you." Jack told him.

"Now run. I have Z-0. Get out of here. Find what's her name. Emily?" he said.

Dean looked at him.

"_Reshiram." _Dean spoke through the mental link Alakazam had established.

"_Dean. I'm still over Westminster Bridge. Aegislash and Alakazam are on my back. They retreated when Emily got taken - !" _Reshiram began, but Dean interrupted.

"_She was taken?! What the hell?! Who has her?" _Dean shouted back.

"_Rankshaw."_

"_Bollocks."_

"_What are you going to do?"_

Dean looked up.

"Bro." Dean sighed, looking Jack in the eyes.

"Yeah?" Jack said, hefting his gun.

"Hold him off for me. I _will _be back, alright? You're right. I gotta save Emily. I'm sick of hanging back, I'm sick of being scared and being taken prisoner or taken out. I'm done." Dean said and closed his eyes.

"And now? Now I have reason to fight. And so does he."

"_Who?" _Latios asked.

Inside his mind, Dean heard Arceus speak.

"_**Yes. I'll fight. Temple will not take my children from me,**__" _Arceus said.

Dean opened his eyes, and one was red and green.

**Um, I know what I said in the last chapter, and sorry for the lack of badassery. It'll be next chapter, promise :) . I have it all planned out.**

**As a side note, I think it's fair to say Erik Temples 'TIME TO F**KING DIE, ARCEUS" speech was pretty cool.**


	19. Chapter 19 - The Battle of Westminster

**ENJOY THIS! At last, the badassery you've been promised is nigh.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, Nintendo does.**

_Westminster Bridge…_

Jack Regan levelled his gun as Latios took a sharp right and blasted towards Z-0's head.

He fired twice.

The bullets clanged off the monstrous mecha's steel skull (**A/N: so much alliteration**) and simply fell to the ground.

Z-0 let rip its Vulcan cannons, and Latios unleashed a Psychic attack that deflected the maelstrom of bullets.

"_Latias!" _Latios yelled. Latias shot like a missile from behind Z-0.

She was just about to smash through its head when a burst of electricity was let loose from Z-0's wings.

Latias was sent spiralling back and Latios rammed into the ground head first. Jack leapt off, rolling and coming up in front of his looming enemy.

He aimed his rifle.

Two compartments opened in Z-0's chest and what looked worryingly like missiles were revealed.

"Shit," Jack said.

The missiles fired.

He dropped his rifle and ran. One missile hit the bridge and exploded like an atom bomb, fire and shrapnel bursting forth. A scorched hole had been bored in the bridge.

Unfortunately, the other projectile seemed to be of the heat-seeking variation.

Jack tried to run, but he couldn't outrun a missile. With a crack, the missile shattered the sound barrier and just as it was about to blow him to oblivion…

A golden blur sliced into it and lodged in the ground.

The missile's two halves, sliced so fast that they smoked, dropped. Jack saw Aegislash remove himself from the ground.

"Thhhanks!" Jack slurred.

"No trouble," Aegislash said.

Reshiram flew down and landed on the bridge, generator tail aflame, blue eyes narrowed.

Alakazam leapt off her back.

"_Now you're in for it." _Latios remarked, rising into the air and charging a Dragon Pulse.

_Behind the roadblock…_

Dean raised a fist and smashed the roadblock in two with ease. He strode forwards. A squad of three Hunters moved in, weapons trained. They fired with unerring accuracy.

Dean raised a hand and the green part of his Arceus eye turned a bright shade of pink.

A Psychic attack caught the bullets mid-flight, and sent them back, perforating the Hunters' legs.

They fell and Dean didn't stop walking.

"_This is amazing." _Dean thought.

"**A man once said that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Remember that,**" Arceus said back from inside his mind.

Dean nodded as a Hunter turned, and shouldered a massive RPG-7 rocket launcher.

Dean didn't break stride, and with a flick of his wrist the massive weapon was thrown from the man's hands. Dean punched him and heard his ribs crack as he flew backwards.

His allies scattered and ran.

A massive eighteen-wheeler truck bearing the Hunter insignia was parked in front of him.

The driver, who was slouched in the front seat, gaped.

He turned and shouted back to the trailer of the vehicle.

Dean's mouth curled into a smile as he raised his hand.

Part of Dean's Arceus eye turned a shade of tan, as if it was filled with sand, and he stamped a foot.

Westminster Bridge splintered.

A crack shot up along the whole bridge, underneath the truck. It began to topple off the bridge.

"**Dean. I have a hunch. Try and read the minds of the men in that truck.**" Arceus instructed.

Dean nodded. He clicked his fingers and a blue aura of telekinetic energy surrounded the truck, and it stopped its descent.

"OK…" Dean mumbled, and shut his eyes.

Then he heard them.

The voices from inside the truck, the voices from inside people's minds.

Dean found it.

_Damn! If this vehicle is destroyed, Z-0 will cease to operate!_

"**Do it.**"

Dean, though miffed Arceus would order him like that, nonetheless clenched his fist. The trailer of the truck bent inwards, crushing whatever machinery was inside.

Dean lifted the trailer high into the air and slammed it to the ground in front of him.

The rest of the truck fell into the Thames.

Dean's right eye turned fiery orange and he stretched out a hand.

A jet of fire, akin to a Flamethrower attack, shot from his palm. He ran the attack down the front of the smashed, compressed trailer and a scientist poked his head out of the scorched hole.

"Don't move or I'll kill you all." Dean stated flatly. He wasn't sure if he meant it, but the now-horrified scientist apparently was.

Dean's eye turned back to pink and he clicked his fingers. Six holes were poked in the trailer.

"Go back in, please."

The scientist shrank away.

Dean crossed his arms and the two smouldering edges of the hole slammed shut. He welded them together with a Flamethrower.

"Now that _they _can breathe, let's go and find Emily." Dean muttered to himself, and, sort of to Arceus. The concept that he was now technically two people was pretty strange.

Dean began to whistle 'The House of the Rising Sun' as he walked towards the Hunter vans.

_The front of the roadblock…_

Jack was fairly sure that he was going to die.

Now, he had to admit, when it came to near-death situations, he was a veritable Houdini.

Not this time.

Z-0 had him pinned. He was being crushed beneath the mechanical monsters enormously heavy talons. The life was being drained from him as his lungs gasped desperately for air.

He'd leave his brother and join his parents soon.

Latios and Latias were desperately pounding at Z-0, ramming it and avoiding its strikes, and then ramming it again to no avail.

Reshiram was holding its attention, but Aegislash was lying still in a flaming wreck of a car and Alakazam was busy trying to shake off the barrage of bullets raining down on it.

Then, suddenly, Z-0 stopped.

The weight lessened.

Jack crawled away and slowly got to his feet. He stood up, using the wreckage of a Toyota Avensis to haul himself up.

"_What the hell is it doing?" _Latias mused.

Then a spark flew from Z-0's neck.

"_Guys. I think it's broken down," _Latios said.

Jack nodded cautiously. He approached it and gingerly touched its wing.

"Yeah…I thhhhink it's gonnne." He slurred.

"OK. Alright. Let's go," Reshiram said. "Let's go and help Dean."

Jack nodded slowly, cautiously backing away, not taking his eyes off the machine that moments earlier had been crushing the life from him.

He climbed onto Latios' back and zoomed over the roadblock.

_Behind the roadblock…_

Dean punched open the door of the third Hunter van. He looked inside to see a quivering grunt.

"Ah, come on. Relax," Dean said and grabbed the man by the wrist. He threw the guy against the second van, and he slumped down.

Dean looked inside. Nothing but a couple of guns and a cold cup of coffee. He grabbed an AK-47. For Jack, he thought.

One van left.

Dean walked forward, and lifted a hand.

His sclera (**um…that's the whites of your eyes**) turned black.

A Dark Pulse blasted from his hand and the van was bisected. The roof fell off.

Dean stepped onto it and saw Emily, knelt down, head in her hands.

"Oh, Jesus…don't…" she said and then she looked up.

She saw Dean, standing over her, one eye black save for a glowing red iris.

"Dean. Is that you?" she asked.

Dean bent down and kissed her passionately on the lips.

"Of course," he said as she pulled him into a hug.

"Ah!" she exclaimed and reeled.

Dean frowned.

"What the hell happened?" Dean asked, seeing the scars inflicted by Rankshaw's torture.

"It's nothing, Dean. Look, get objective, we n-need to get out of - …"

"_Who?_"

Emily paused. She didn't want to tell him, not that much. She supposed she had to, but with what she had just seen him do to the van, Emily was afraid he'd go too far and do something he'd regret.

But her desire for revenge outweighed her caution by far.

"Rankshaw. It was…it was Rankshaw," Emily said.

Dean stood, helping her up slowly.

"Emily. I know it hasn't been long. But, just…I love you." Dean confessed suddenly.

Emily's mouth opened and closed. And opened again. And closed again.

"Dean, I…I love you too."

Dean smiled widely.

"Alright. I'll explain everything later, but right now, we gotta help Jack and the Eons stop Z-0." Dean told her.

"OK, right, that's good. Who the hell is Jack, why are the _Eons _here and what's Z-0?" Emily asked. Dean sighed.

"It's a long story."

"Of course it is."

Dean smiled. He helped walk Emily out of the roadblock and out in front of the stationary Z-0.

"Stopped wwworking." Jack slurred, gesturing to the montionless mecha.

"**I told you, didn't I?**" Arceus mused in Dean's mind. "**You might as well just give me full control.**"

"I'm afraid not, buddy," Dean said quietly and then turned to the Eon Twins.

"_Lord Arceus!" _Latias greeted cheerily.

"Um…ah. Right. You think I'm him. Well, you see, he's living inside me and its complicated and I'll explain it all later, but right now we have to…" Dean said quickly, but then his sentence faded away when he heard a camera snap.

He whirled and saw a camera crew, _at least four of them, _gathered at the far end of the bridge. They weren't too far away, easily able to see Dean and the others.

"Shit."

And then, suddenly, a metallic moan resounded from behind them.

Jack turned and Dean handed him the AK. Z-0 suddenly jerked its slumped head up. A shower of sparks rained from its neck.

"Impossible. I – !" Dean began, but Arceus cut him off.

"**WE stopped it.**"

"_We, _me and Arceus stopped it. We wrecked the control station thing," Dean said, shaking his head.

"Bollocks. How is it still moving?!" Emily yelled.

Latios charge a Dragon Pulse and moved in front of them.

"_Back away, Lord Arceus._"

Suddenly, the roar of helicopter rotors kicked up and a black Hunter chopper roared into view, hovering alongside the bridge.

Out of the passenger hold, Christopher grinned at them.

"Alright there, kids?!" he yelled.

Dean raised a hand. He knew he could take down that helicopter with a thought and be rid of that bastard forever.

Emily yanked his arm down.

"Look!"

Christopher dragged Darkrai by his arm into view. He was unconscious and had four bandages on his back, stained red with blood.

"I'd let us all go if I were you!" Christopher called.

Dean gritted his teeth.

"Latios, can you…?" Emily asked.

"_No. I have to protect you. Let them go, we'll save Darkrai."_

Dean nodded stiffly. The helicopter door slid shut and it flew into the distance.

Z-0 gave a beat of its wings and rose into the air.

"Whatever parts of Zapdos they put into must've given it…sentience, somehow? I think? But whatever happened to it, it needs to be stopped," Emily said gravely.

Dean clenched his fists, the Eons rose into the air, Reshiram summoned a ball of flame and Alakazam and Aegislash charged Shadow Balls.

They were ready.

**OK. Think this was my best chapter yet, personally! I'm proud of the sort of badass scene where Dean just strides into the roadblock and owns the Hunter grunts all over the place.**


	20. Chapter 20 - The Battle of Westminter 2

**Hey! After the extremely long chapter last time, I'm not sure if this can measure up…but still enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Pokémon is not mine, it's Nintendo's.**

Dean lifted a hand and fired a bolt of electricity at Z-0. In hindsight, Dean thought, that was a fairly stupid idea. Z-0 simply spread its wings wide and seemed to lap up the energy.

It blasted a Discharge attack, an expanding sphere of electricity, was sent out and Dean was rammed across the bridge with the force of it.

The front of his shirt was seared right off, but his skin was unharmed.

"**You're quite welcome,**" Arceus said.

Dean stood.

Latios rose into the air and launched a Dragon Pulse that tore a fragment of metal loose from Z-0's steel hide. Z-0 let out an unearthly, groaning mechanized screech and rammed Latios.

At the last second, a Light Screen materialized in front of Z-0.

"_Gotcha," _Latias said from behind the shield she was generating.

Latios blurred and reappeared above Z-0.

Latias let down her shield and charge up a massive ball of psychic mist.

Latios let loose a Luster Purge, a massive burst of draconic power, just as his sister launched her Mist Ball.

A massive explosion seemed to rock the world as the two legends power was unleashed.

When the dust settled, Z-0 was scorched and cracked and motionless.

"OK. Be on guard, this already happened once." Emily warned.

Alakazam raised her spoons and formed a Focus Blast.

Aegislash levelled his sword and Jack did the same with his gun. Reshiram moved instinctively in front of Dean and Emily.

Then, suddenly, a cameraman ran forward. He started wildly snapping pictures.

And the crowd surged forward.

Reporters swarmed around the group.

"_Get them back!" _Alakazam shouted through her mind.

"_Can't you just wipe their minds?!" _Dean asked.

"_Not this many people, I'm sorry." _Alakazam replied.

"_No problem." _Latias stated and began to glow. Her eyes were overtaken by a blue glow.

A burst of psionic power blazed out, and all at once, the reporters keeled over, unconscious.

"_I've only bought us time though. Others saw this too, on the news, or on the radio, or anything. The secret's out," _Latias said.

Dean nodded.

"What's done is done. We'll just have to deal with it when this is all over," Emily said.

Then, suddenly, Z-0 raised its head once more.

"Jesus Christ! It just won't stay down!" Dean growled and rose into the air, hands wreathed in flame.

Alakazam launched her Focus Blast.

It hit Z-0, denting its metal chest.

Z-0 opened fire, cannons spraying bullets along the bridge. Latios fired off a Fire Blast that hit Z-0 and sent it spiralling backwards.

Dean launched his own stream of fire that Z-0 ducked under. Two missiles fired from its lower body.

"Damn it!" Dean yelled and shot off over the water, the missiles hot on his trail.

"**Stop running!**" Arceus yelled indignantly. "**Coward!**"

"Coward? Try 'not suicidal'!" Dean replied.

Suddenly, Arceus wrested control of his body from him. He halted mid-air and the missiles slammed into his back.

Dean barely felt it, just a dull impact and a surge of heat.

He wasn't just bulletproof.

He was _missile-_proof.

Dean grinned and turned, Arceus handing him the reins once more.

Dean turned and blasted back to the bridge, punching Z-0 in the side of the head as he did. The metal crumpled beneath his fist. Z-0 blasted a torrent of electricity that sent Dean to the pavement.

Jack was firing his AK-47, the bullets scarcely getting Z-0's notice. The machine raised its wing and smacked Jack soundly to the ground.

Then it rose high into the air and took off, leaving the group in the dust.

It flew towards the centre of the city.

_Over London…_

"Well now. This really bombed, didn't it?" Christopher said to Erik Temple, whose wheelchair was firmly secured to the helicopter floor beside him.

"Mmm." Erik answered distractedly. His rasping breath in his oxygen mask seemed to just make the awkward silence even…awkwarder.

"So what now? Z-0 failed. You know how this goes. Z-0 rampages, Dean and friends stop it, they're heroes, and we're shut down or something." Christopher sighed, reclining in his chair.

"We try again." Erik responded.

"Erik, this _didn't work. _The concept was genius, I'll give you that, a mechanical weapon fuelled by the organs of a legend and the best weapons mankind has. It should've worked, it should be out exterminating every Pokémon in the world right now, like it was meant to, but…it was flawed. Give up on it, it doesn't work."

Erik turned to him with rage in his eyes.

"_No. We try again. _The Patriot has provided us with the funding and the means, and everything we need. Do you know what will happen if we fail?" Erik spat. He shook his head and sat up straight.

In a blur, Temple's thin hand was round Christopher's throat.

"_I will not be denied my revenge. Arceus will burn, and his Pokémon will die. And the Patriot will be pleased." _He hissed, tightening his grip.

Christopher nodded slowly.

"OK. Alright. But what Pokémon?" Christopher asked. "Who will we use?"

Erik hesitated. Maybe he was considering whether he was doing the right thing, continuing the project.

Then he nodded to himself.

"The video footage you collected of Giratina? You still have it?" He asked. Christopher nodded.

"Then consider Project RENEGADE a go."

_Over London, further south…_

Reshiram rammed into Z-0 just as it was about to launch a Discharge that would've fried the South London Police Precinct.

Policemen were firing wildly at Z-0 to no avail, the bullets simply bouncing off its tough metal hide.

And strangely enough, some of the policemen seemed to have met Pokémon already. Next to a thin, balding man, an Aggron was slamming Iron Tails off of Z-0, and another policeman had acquired a Sneasel that was leaping around and sending Ice Shards at the huge machine.

That brought a small smile to Reshiram's face. Humans and Pokémon, working together.

In fact, even civilians had managed to join up with some Pokemon apparently, as there was a fat, middle-aged man screaming at a tired-looking Foretress to 'for Christ's sake, kill the robot'.

Reshiram's thoughts were then interrupted by Z-0 smashing a wing into her side and then blasting her into the side of the police precinct with a Thunderbolt.

Latios and Latias sped towards Z-0 and simultaneously rammed its head. The mechanical monster staggered.

"Get out of the way!" Dean shouted.

Latios dived and picked up Emily, with Latias picking up Jack. Aegislash and Alakazam backed up. Reshiram was out of range anyway.

Dean raised his hands.

A sphere of orange blasted from them and disappeared into the clouds.

An orange flash of light blazed in the sky.

"Judgement time, buddy."

A huge pillar of unfathomable energy blasted from the sky, Z-0 falling in its path. The purging light shredded its left wing, and a portion of its torso.

Another pillar tore off the side of its head, and another put a gaping hole in its body.

Still, it stood.

Dean collapsed to his knees, breathing hard.

"**Regan. We need to work on this. That wasn't even a full-power Judgement. Your body isn't ready for that sort of power.**" Arceus told him.

Dean nodded, wheezing.

"OK, guys…take it down," Dean said weakly.

"_Hold on tight!" _Latios said and then began to glow a bright white. Latias did the same. The white aura shaped itself into a white, double-edged needle of energy that surrounded the Eons.

They launched a double Double-Edge, charging into Z-0's waist, rending it at the middle.

The top half of the mechanical monstrosity toppled over, smashing into a car.

The Eons pulled up next to Dean. Jack and Emily hopped off.

"Dean? Dean, are you alright?" Emily asked. He nodded and Jack helped haul him up.

A cheer resounded from the policemen and civilians, and their Pokémon.

A reporter, wearing a tweed jacket and navy tie, walked over.

"Excuse me! Excuse me! Yes, you three. We're live in four, three two, one…" he said, not giving the kids a chance to react.

"I'm Thomas Clancy here today, standing outside the wreck of South London Police Precinct! With me are three children who seem to be responsible for the destruction that occurred here today!" He said. Jack frowned.

He took the microphone that the man held out to him.

The cameraman recoiled at his mangled and scorched face.

"My name is Jack Regan. This is my brother, Dean. We are _not _responsible for the damage here. What we _are _responsible for, it seems, is the survival of each and every person here today. We just saved you all. It's too long a story to tell you how, but it happened, and that's just fact. So don't come accusing us for destroying the police precinct, or anything else. We didn't do it. In fact, all we did do here was save the lives of hundreds of people and _these _strange new creatures – …" Jack said, gesturing to Aegislash. " – Called Pokémon. Now, they're everywhere by now, I'd say. But don't be afraid of them. They're here to just _live_, like anyone else. So, now, in exchange for the survival that we, and they, have granted you all, we request that you leave. Us. The hell. _Alone."_

Dean's mouth fell open. He'd never seen Jack that angry.

As he handed the mic back and turned, someone called out.

"Where's your mom and dad?"

Dean glanced at his brother. He could've sworn that there was tears shining in his eyes.

"I think it's fair to say we've been emancipated." Jack answered and walked away.

**Ouch. Wrong question to ask, there, random bystander. Anyway, R&R. The fic should be ending soon, I can say. The next arc is sort of the last. Thanks for sticking by me all this way, everybody!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Heeeeeyoooo! I have something to say to you all this chapter: Go read A New World, A Pokémon World by Wolfsthrope van Schlieffen. It's great, and also, as I've said, we're doing a collab once Pokémon: Shadows is over. So you won't get the collab at all 'til you read his fic. Go do it. Now.**

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN POKÉMON IT ISN'T MINE PLEASE DON'T HURT ME REGGIE**

_Epping Forest, five days later…_

The Hunter guard stood by the door of the shining metal bunker, stock-still, shotgun hefted over his shoulder.

He wasn't exactly sure what he was looking out for.

The Hunter grunts typically weren't told much by the higher-ups. He'd heard snippets of a conversation. Someone called Dean Regan was mentioned. Somoeone called 'the Patriot'. And something about a captive Darkrai in

It was this 'Dean' kid they were meant to be looking out for.

The Hunter cocked his shotgun apprehensively. He looked to his partner, a thin, reedy man with an RPG launcher.

Suddenly, the man with the shotgun heard a shifting noise through the bushes. A shadow darted in between two trees.

Then something whizzed past his face and clanged against the bunker wall. The bullet shell spun and hit the ground.

He turned to the thin man on his right.

"Sound the alarm!" He cried but ended up just slamming the alarm button himself. The door slid open, klaxons blaring. He was going to run in, but then some invisible force pressed him to his knees.

When he managed to raise his head, the thin man was a pile of ash.

A massive shadow rose over him as two people pushed past him.

He aimed his shotgun, hands trembling, at the Ho-Oh above him. It spread its huge, orange wings and bursts of blue fire rained down in front of the bunker.

The man fired until he was dry of ammo, and then sprinted inside.

_Inside the bunker…_

Dean hurled a guard into a wall with a burst of telekinetic energy and slugged another one so hard that when he hit the wall, the metal crumpled under the impact.

He turned and saw another guard with his rifle aimed squarely into Dean's eye that was not…Arceus'd.

Suddenly, the guard jerked twice and collapsed back, legs giving out beneath him.

Emily blew the smoke from her Desert Eagle barrel as she stepped out behind him.

"Good shot. Not dead, though. On purpose?" Dean inquired, looking at the two smoking bullet holes at the base of the man's spine.

Emily nodded.

Dean knew that she'd killed a man at Westminster Bridge. She'd since acquired a gun, largely because she wanted to not have to rely on Dean.

But she never, not _ever, _went for the killshot.

Suddenly, a blur raced up alongside them and Latios changed from his invisible form.

"_OK. Ho-Oh and Jack have it handled out front. It's you guys, my sister, me and Aegislash on this one," _Latios said. Dean nodded, and looked to Emily. She nodded as well.

Dean glanced out the door which was ajar a few metres down the hall. A pillar of flame shot through the doorframe.

"**Ho-Oh has it,**" Arceus said in Dean's mind.

They'd met Ho-Oh two days ago, when he'd literally just breached to the Human World directly in front of them in mid-air.

They had, after a short clash, become allies with the Fire/Flying legend who, according to Arceus, had been his right hand 'mon.

Dean looked down the hallway.

"Right, let's get Darkrai."

They progressed down the long, metal hall, encountering groups of guards that were swiftly dispatched.

Suddenly, something whizzed past his hair.

Suddenly, thin arms held his wrists to the ground.

Emily aimed her gun, aiming for the thin, grey haired man in dark glasses who was _now_ holding Dean in place against the wall.

Before Dean had the time to just crush the man's mind, he slammed a syringe into Dean's neck.

A blue liquid drained from the syringe.

And the man stepped back.

He grinned.

"Now, then. You've been a thorn in his side for a while, Arceus," the man said. "The Patriot sends his regards."

Emily fired, but the man flicked his wrist and a blue portal, blindingly bright vortex, opened behind him.

He stepped back, and vanished as the portal shut behind him.

Emily rushed over to Dean, who collapsed to his knees.

"Dean? Dean? What happened? What was that stuff he gave you?" She asked.

"I'm not sure. I'm not…I'm fine," Dean said, standing and striding forth.

"What do you think that portal was?" Emily mused.

"I don't know."

Emily shrugged, but then slammed Dean to the wall of a corridor that branched out from the main one.

"Emily, what the hell -…" Dean yelled.

"_Shhhh."_

Two guards ran past, carrying automatic machine guns.

Emily raised an eyebrow and Dean understood.

"I should've been able to hear their thoughts. Why wasn't I?" Dean asked, directing the question at Arceus.

"_I should've been able to hear them coming. Why couldn't I?" _Dean thought.

Arceus was silent.

"_Answer me!" _

Still nothing.

"Dean. Look." Emily pointed to a door at the far end of the corridor they were now in. It was wide, with a panel on it for entering a password.

"Latios?" Dean asked. The male Eon twin nodded.

His eyes shone blue and the panel exploded. He forced the door open with a Psychic attack.

Darkrai lay slumped against a wall inside.

"Dean?" He asked weakly, looking up at the group. "Oh, well. Took you long enough, didn't it?"

Dean laughed and, with the aid of Latios' psychic power, hauled the legendary up.

As they walked back down the hall, Aegislash and Latias caught up, racing up alongside them.

They exited, emerging into the sun.

Ho-Oh nodded to them, circling in the sky above the bunker. Guards lay everywhere, some scorched, some pocked with bullet holes.

"This went well. Aside from, uh, being injected with something and Arceus going silent. But that isn't important." Dean smiled at Darkrai as Reshiram burst from the clouds and landed in front of them, Alakazam on her back.

Then, suddenly, the air rippled.

"Not here. Not now," Emily said.

Giratina burst through, roaring.

His mouth opened, and before anyone could react, Darkrai was thrown into the air and disappeared into the Renegade Pokémon's gaping maw.

Giratina's red eyes narrowed.

Dean clenched his fists and suddenly, his pupils, which had reverted to blue, turned a glowing red. Both sclera remained unchanged for some reason.

And Arceus said nothing.

Dean roared, launching into the air in front of Giratina. He slammed a fist against the monster, the metal plating around its mouth shattering. He launched a torrent of fire that sent the Ghost/Dragon screaming into the air.

He raised a hand and an orange sphere shot into the sky.

A flash of orange from the clouds.

And a massive pillar of light sliced through Giratina's midsection.

"_NO! I AM GIRATINA! I AM THE DARK AND THE HUNGER AND THE RAGE UNENDING! I CANNOT DIE! I CANNOT - !" _

But then Dean launched another Judgement pillar through its throat and the Renegade Pokémon stopped talking.

A rippling portal opened and Giratina fell back through it.

The red faded from Dean's eyes and he collapsed.

**I am so sorry for the death of Darkrai. Actually I'm not. So, questions are all over the place in this chapter. Who was the sunglasses man? Why did Arceus fall silent? Why did Dean use his power, seemingly without any input from him? And who, good lord, who, is the Patriot?**


	22. Chapter 22

**After the soul-crushing death of last chapter, which, as one of my reviewers said, was THREE LINES LONG, I hope this chapter is slightly lighter.**

**Ha. Gotcha. **_**ANOTHER PERSON DIES! **_**And to anyone who spots the Metal Gear Solid 2 reference, I bestow virtual cookies upon you.**

**Disclaimer: Pokémon isn't mine.**

_The Distortion World…_

Giratina lay on top of a huge, floating boulder, blood leaking all down the rocky edges, and, due to the distorted gravity of this place, floating up past the Renegade Pokémon.

It knew it was dying. It had managed to heal up the throat wound, but it was very rushed, and whatever the Regan child had done to his midsection, it had torn something that refused to be healed.

Giratina knew it had very little time.

It rose slowly off of its rocky perch and let out a growl. The air rippled and two portals opened.

One showed Ho-Oh and Reshiram, accompanied by the Eons, flying above a city. Dean Regan and his friends rode on their backs.

The other portal opened above a massive skyscraper.

It jutted above London, a magnificent structure. Black vans were parked outside of it.

Giratina knew who was in there.

It'd tracked down every lead, interrogated Hunter after Hunter.

The Patriot was inside that building. And though Regan was a threat, that was no mistake, Giratina was fully aware of who was the bigger one.

If Giratina was to do one last thing with his violent, genocidal existence, he would prioritize.

And take down the Patriot once and for all.

_Dean and Emily's place in London…_

Dean munched on a chicken wing, levitating a table up in front of him.

He could still use his powers. That worried him. It was like instinct now, not hard at all, but still.

Arceus hadn't spoken since yesterday.

Since Darkrai had been killed.

Since Dean had flown into a horrific rage so potent that he had actually blacked out. He remembered none of it whatsoever.

Emily walked in.

"Hey," Dean said, setting the table down.

"What's the problem?" Emily asked.

"Arceus hasn't said a word since the bunker. I mean, he's not notorious for being chatty, but…you know. He's completely silent."

Emily nodded, sitting down on the sofa.

"Well. You still have me," she said.

Dean nodded. He stood, kissed her, and checked the windows. No Hunter vans or anything suspicious. He snapped down the blinds.

Then the windows smashed and something hit him like a truck.

_The skyscraper, London…_

Giratina burst from the portal and stopped mid-air. Its red eyes shone through the cloud it had emerged into. It saw the target, the skyscraper. There was the Patriot. There was its last fight.

It gave beat of its wings and the cloud dispersed.

It dived, swooping towards the top floor of the skyscraper. It gave another wingbeat as it approached the window and the window exploded. The wall around it cracked and fell inwards. Giratina landed in the hall, its head scraping the roof.

An alarm went off. Men in suits sprinted towards it, each with a handgun. They fired, but Giratina ignored them. It opened its jaws and unleashed a Dragonbreath that vaporized the three men who were firing on it.

"_WHERE IS THE PATRIOT?!" _Giratina howled and spread its wings. They smashed through the walls and rubble fell around it. It stalked towards a black pair of double doors.

It raised its head and launched a Shadow Ball that tore the two doors off their hinges.

Giratina dipped its head and stared through the doorway into the office beyond.

A man sat in a chair with his back to Giratina.

"_You are the Patriot?" _Giratina growled.

"Yes. Yes, I am." The man replied and stood. "Are you here to kill me?"

"_I _will _kill you," _Giratina said and opened its jaws.

The man turned.

He looked like a normal man. He had dark hair, and stubble around his face. His skin suddenly pulsed with red energy.

He raised a hand and the skin on it seemed to tear.

Giratina raised its head and charged.

The Patriots hand seemed to dissolve and a massive red wing was revealed beneath the torn skin. Five black finger-like spikes jutted from the end of the wing.

The Patriot swung his hand and Giratina was spun, slamming through the floor, and through the next, and the next until it hit the ground floor.

It tried to lift his head but suddenly, something landed on his throat. The Patriot looked down at him.

"_What are you?" _Giratina groaned as the Patriot raised his hand.

"Not what you'd call _human."_

And then Giratina saw red and then black.

_The RENEGADE Development Lab, Bradford…_

Erik Temple raised his head when he heard the phone ring.

"Rankshaw. Bring it to me," he said, tearing his head away from the massive metal creature being constructed before him.

Rankshaw approached him with a phone. Temple took it from him and brought it to his ear.

"Who is this?"

"Mr. Temple. It's Alexander. The Patriot sends his regards, and a gift. Look to your left," said the man on the other end of the line.

Erik turned his head slowly, looking out the window.

Giratina's corpse was being lowered by three helicopters in front of the facility.

**Well. That's **_**two **_**major characters dead. Only five-eight chapters left, I'd estimate. See ya next time!**


	23. The Beginning of the End

**Hey! Good news! Unless I dip into a mid-chapter bout of insanity while writing this, no death in this chapter! **

**Oh. Oh wait. There is.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, and if I keep going like this, all the OCs I **_**do **_**own will be dead soon.**

_Dean and Emily's apartment, London…_

Dean slammed into a coffee table and snapped through the legs, hitting the wall behind it.

"Ugh…" Dean groaned as he saw the Dragonite standing above him.

Christopher stepped out from behind it.

"Hey, Dean." He smirked.

Emily glanced at Dean from across the room, where she was sprawled on the ground in front of the sofa.

Emily dipped a hand into her jacket and drew out her pistol, aiming it at Dragonite.

"Don't move," she said.

Christopher turned and laughed.

"Well. Haven't we been in this situation before, Emily? You're not going to shoot."

"Don't bet on it."

"Oh please. Don't posture - …" but then Emily fired into Dragonite's arm. Dragonite yelped and staggered back, arm bleeding.

Emily stood and fired again, this time into Dragonite's shoulder. The Dragon/Flying type doubled over.

Christopher growled and tackled Emily to the ground, twisting her wrist.

Dragonite toppled over.

Dean stood, eyes glowing red.

He kicked Christopher into the ribs, heard bones snap. The man was sent flying into the wall, which cracked upon impact.

Dean lifted him up with a Psychic attack.

"Emily. Would you mind pulling up a chair for Christopher?"

_One chair retrieval later…_

Jack Regan walked into the apartment to, quite unexpectedly, see Christopher tied to a chair and Dean and Emily standing over him.

"This is one of those times where I've really missed something, yeah?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow.

Emily nodded.

"OK then," Jack said, sitting down on an armchair.

"So, Christopher. Why were you sent here?" Dean asked.

"Well, I tried to kill you. That would give the impression that I was sent here to kill you, wouldn't it?" Christopher smiled.

Dean hit him, hard.

Christopher cried out as one of his teeth was knocked from his mouth.

"Not using your..agh…powers, I see?" he observed, sucking up the blood from his split lip.

"I don't need them for this. Why now? Why were you sent to kill us now?" Dean asked.

"Need-to-know information, I'm - …" Christopher began to taunt, but then Dean hit him again.

And again.

And again.

Christopher opened his mouth and Dean threw an uppercut that snapped his jaw shut and caused the Hunter admin to bite down on his tongue with extraordinary force. Blood spilled from his mouth.

"Agggh! Dammit…" he breathed.

"Ready to talk?" Dean asked. Emily and Jack looked on in horror.

"Dean, what the hell are you doing?" Jack asked, standing.

"Getting results."

And then Dean grabbed Christopher's wrist and closed his fist around it. Dean's eyes went red.

Bones splintered beneath his grip.

"OK! OK, Jesus Christ, I'll tell you! I'll tell you everything!" Christopher yelled.

Dean stood back.

"It's a base in Bradford. That's where they're developing it…RENEGADE. That's why I was sent to kill you. So you don't interrupt the development's final stage."

"What's RENEGADE?" Emily asked.

"You remember Z-0?" Christopher asked.

Dean nodded. He definitely did remember it. It had shot him. Repeatedly. With missiles. It was a little hard to forget.

"That used Zapdos. This time we're using Giratina."

Suddenly, ducking down so far she was nearly lying down, Reshiram entered the room.

"Lies. Zapdos had to be dead to be used as the base for your weapon. Giratina, unfortunately, is alive and well," Reshiram said.

Christopher shook his head.

"Not so, I'm afraid. Or if he is, he won't be much longer." He replied with some of his maniacal grin back.

Dean looked around the room. Then he shrugged and backhanded Christopher so hard that the chair toppled over.

"That's all we need, thanks. Let's go, guys."

_The RENEGADE Development Lab, Bradford…_

"They're coming. We're going into lockdown. Nobody gets in or out." Rankshaw ordered the two guards standing at the door of the research facility, an old, slightly run-down factory that was originally an ammunition factory.

The Hunter guard raised his shotgun.

There would be no getting past him this time around, not like at the bunker.

That one had been pretty embarrassing. Rankshaw had actually beaten him for it.

Then, suddenly, something hit him in the chest and slammed him against the wall.

He vaguely realized that he'd been shot.

Blood flowed from the wound.

The man next to him, another guard, rushed over to him.

"Hey, man! What the hell happened? You OK?" the other guard asked urgently.

The first guard, the one who'd been shot, didn't even shake his head. He was definitely not OK. He was dying.

"C'mon, man! Johnny, stay with m - !" And then the other guard stopped talking. The shot guard, Johnny, managed to turn his head. The other guard was ashes.

Just like last time.

Ho-Oh landed, and Dean and Emily hopped off. Jack leapt off Latios.

They ran past the dying man and into the facility.

As soon as they stepped inside, Hunters opened fire on them. Jack ducked under a barrage of gunfire and twisted the gun out of one of the men's grasp, before firing into his knees.

Dean let out a blast of psychic power that flipped most of the Hunters over.

Emily swung her gun barrel into one of the grunts' chins, and then snatched his gun off him while he staggered back. She pulled the trigger of both her weapons, and the man toppled.

"I have it here, Dean!" Emily yelled. "You and Jack go on!"

Dean shook his head.

"I'm not leaving you again," he said, flinging one of the grunts into one of his comrades.

Emily fired suddenly over Dean's shoulder. A grunt, who'd been about to shoot him point-blank, keeled over, a smoking hole in his chest.

"_I can take care of myself. Go." _Emily insisted. Dean nodded.

"I love you," he said and turned, shooting down the hallway. Jack followed.

The two boys progressed, watching Emily take out guard after guard behind them. Eventually they turned a corner and she was out of sight.

They entered a large room, with conveyer belts and computers all over the place.

The man from before, the man with grey hair and sunglasses, stood before them.

"I've been waiting for you," he said.

Dean charged.

The man stepped back and through a portal that opened behind him. He disappeared.

Dean lit his hand on fire and as the man appeared behind him, he drove a flaming fist through his knee.

The man howled and stepped back, which as it turned out wasn't very wise. Blood spilled.

"What did you inject me with?!" Dean yelled.

The man clenched his jaw.

Dean clicked his fingers and, using a wave of telekinesis, wrenched the man's wound open farther.

He screamed.

"_I INJECTED YOU WITH…AHHH! I INJECTED YOU WITH A NEUROTOXIN DESIGNED TO SUPRESS THE SUBCONSCIOUS!"_ he cried. Dean frowned, and stopped widening the man's wound.

"What? Why would you want to…?" Dean asked.

"I think I know," Jack said.

Dean turned to him.

The man in the dark glasses, despite his pain, managed to pull a smile.

"Oh, he does. You see, when Arceus entered your mind, he became another aspect of your personality. Essentially, he replaced your subconscious. Now, Dean. You're a bright child. Figure the rest out."

Dean paled.

"You killed…you removed Arceus. He's gone. And that's why I can use his powers," Dean said. "You supressed his mind, but the power is still there."

"Yes. Unfortunately, Arceus can't actually be _killed. _It just can't happen without killing you too, and the Patriot still has use for you. The best we can do is render him comatose…but the amount I gave you, at that potency? It's enough to keep him down for centuries." The man answered.

"Why wouldn't you tell Temple? His work's done. Arceus is down." Dean questioned.

"I was instructed not to."

"By who?"

"Someone who scares me far more than a dying man in a chair." The man answered, and suddenly, a portal opened behind him.

Jack fired his rifle. The man stepped back and another portal closed around him as he did. He was gone, and the bullet hit thin air.

Dean gritted his teeth.

"Come on. Let's find Temple and end this."

_The Launch Room, RENEGADE Development Lab, Bradford..._

"ERIK!" yelled a haggard voice from behind Erik's chair. He turned his head, and turned his chair. Rankshaw turned as well.

Christopher was staggering towards them. He was bloodied and battered, bones broken, teeth missing. His eyes were wild.

"I'm here," he said, falling to his knees with exhaustion.

Erik's eyes narrowed.

"So are the Regan brothers and Emily are here, as well as their Pokémon." He growled. "Did you tell them where we were, boy?!"

Christopher's face drained of all colour.

"I didn't have any choice. You have no idea what Dean…" he trailed off when he saw Erik had shed a tear.

"Failure. You and your father. You are my grandson. You are of _my blood. _And you have failed me like he did. Rankshaw." Erik gestured to Christopher. His eyes widened.

"What the hell are you doing?! I'm your grandson! I'm the best operative this organization will ever - !" but Rankshaw cut Christopher off when he unloaded three bullets into his skull.

Christopher Temple fell.

Erik turned away.

"Like father, like son. Now activate RENEGADE. It's time for genocide. Death to Arceus and all his children."

Dean and Jack, soon followed by the two Eons, burst into the room where RENEGADE was being held just in time to see Erik Temple and Rankshaw climb into the cockpit situated in the mechanical creature's head.

"Too late, Arceus!" Temple roared triumphantly.

RENEGADE was an enormous creation, and only as it rose in the air could Dean and Jack fully behold its majesty.

It was a steel-plated Giratina Origin Forme, with two massive cannons mounted on its neck and numerous smaller armaments from grenade launchers to automatic machine guns all over its body. On the end of each of its six steel tentacle-wings were, where the original Giratina had red spikes, Vulcan cannons like Z-0's.

The roof opened, revealing a blue sky.

And RENEGADE rose up, a monster that blotted out the sun.

**OK. Last cliffie like that, I swear. And I sort of felt sorry for Christopher while writing his death. Wouldn't you?  
…**

**No?**

…

**Just…just me then? Oh. OK.**


	24. Chapter 24

**Hey! Judging by what the last chapter was called, you can tell I'm about three or four chapters away from finishing up. And then you get me and Wolf's collab! And then…well, then there's a sequel! I can confirm that! Sequel incoming! And I know the title! It's…**

…

**To be revealed at the end of Shadows. I am an evil, evil person.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. WWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAH.**

_Above Bradford…_

Erik Temple sat inside RENEGADE as it soared over Bradford city, six jet turbines replacing the six spikes that Giratina had in its tail.

"All systems are online," Rankshaw said, checking a screen as he sat in the co-pilots seat to Temple's right.

"Excellent. We should be able to track any Pokémon down and wipe it off the map." Erik smiled, and then heard a beeping.

"What's that?" He asked.

"Three Pokémon signals, right behind - !" He began, but then something rammed into the side of RENEGADE.

Erik pulled on a lever and RENEGADE turned to face Ho-Oh, which was flanked by the Eon twins.

Dean, Emily and Jack, along with their Pokémon, were on the Rainbow Pokémon's back.

"Pull over." boomed Ho-Oh's voice.

"I don't think so." Temple growled and tapped a screen on the bank of controls.

The two massive cannons on Giratina's neck let rip, unleashing a firestorm.

Ho-Oh dived, swerving left and right to avoid the maelstrom of bullets.

The two Eons let loose bursts of psychic power that stemmed the stream of bullets, but they were only just keeping it at bay.

Then RENEGADE lashed out with one of its tendril-like wings. The attack caught Latios in the neck and sent him spinning down.

"_No!" _Latias screamed and dived, rushing through the air to save her brother.

Dean leapt off Ho-Oh's back and blasted towards RENEGADE, eyes glowing red.

A compartment slid open above RENEGADE's head, and four missiles came speeding out.

Dean halted in mid-air and let out a Dark Pulse that hit the missiles just as they were about to roast him.

"Good try." He muttered and a bolt of lightning arced from his hand towards RENEGADE. It missed, hitting just below the cockpit window.

Unfortunately, Erik thought, Dean wasn't a person who missed twice.

"We're getting out of here," he said to Rankshaw. Rankshaw nodded.

RENEGADE's jet turbines roared to life and sped away into the distance at 90 mph.

Dean landed on Ho-Oh's back.

"Ho-Oh. We have to follow them," Dean said.

"Latias and Latios - …"

"- Will just have to catch up, I'm afraid. This takes priority."

Ho-Oh glared at him, but then relented. Dean was right. The Eons were quite capable of taking care of themselves.

They had other problems.

_Inside RENEGADE…_

Erik heard the low tone of the ringing phone before Rankshaw did.

"Bring it here." He ordered.

"Bring what – oh. Of course," Rankshaw said and handed Temple the phone.

Erik lifted it to his ear.

"Mr. Temple." greeted a warm voice from the other end of the line.

"Who is this?!"

"You may address me as – …"

"_Who is this?!" _

"- The Patriot." The voice finished.

Erik froze. He swallowed hard and took a deep breath of oxygen from the mask hanging from his chair.

"Verify your claim or I will find you."

"Are you sure you don't want to take that back?" asked the caller.

"I am."

Suddenly, there was the sound of a barrel loading and cold metal pressed to Erik's head.

He turned to see Rankshaw. The admin's eyes had turned a bright, glowing blue.

"I am the Patriot," said the voice from the phone, and Rankshaw.

Erik slowly nodded, taking another inhalation of oxygen.

"Alright. Talk." He sighed.

"I'm cutting the Hunter's funding. All of it," said the Patriot. Erik balled his fists.

"No!" He cried. He practically shook with anger.

"I'm afraid so. You've failed. Expect to wake up in the morning as a homeless buffoon with no memory of the past thirteen years."

"_NO!" _Erik shrieked and slammed the phone down, shattering it.

"_I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS! I WILL NOT!" _He continued. Then he turned to Rankshaw.

"Set a course for London."

"Where in London, exactly?"

"Parliament. I'm going to wipe the Patriot off the map once and for all."

**Kinda short this time, and it's probably the third-to-last or second last chapter, but I'm exhausted and that's all I really have to put in here. Enjoy the weekend!**


	25. The End of the Beginning

**OK, so! I've decided! This chapter is the last! I've realized I simply don't have enough story to stretch out for three or four more chapters, and twenty-five is a good number. So, thanks to everybody who reviewed, and to Wolfsthrope Van Schlieffen for inspiring me to write Shadows in the first place! And be forewarned: more death. I'm really not just trying to tie up loose ends and I don't think it makes the story more dramatic or anything. I do have a plan. But without further ado:**

**Allons-y!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. Still.**

_Just south of London, mid-air…_

Ho-Oh and Reshiram flew side-by-side, flanked by the Eon twins and ridden by Jack, Emily and Dean.

"Keep on them. Don't let them know we're here though," said Reshiram to Latias, who nodded and blurred off into the distance.

Reshiram bowed her head.

This was it. She didn't know how she knew, but she knew this was it. Today they won or lost, lived or died.

They were following RENEGADE's flight path. It was a fairly slow machine, probably weighed down by its massive amount of armaments, and so Latias and Latios could successfully track it down. There was no mistaking that it was heading to London.

Dean was sitting near Reshiram's tail. He was looking up at the sky, eyes glazed over, obviously deep in thought.

Emily went over to him.

He glanced at her. His pupils were still red.

"Uh…Dean? Your powers, you haven't turned them off," she said.

He looked confused for a second. Then he blinked, and his eyes were blue again.

"Sorry. It's just, like…it feels good." He sighed.

Emily nodded. She was getting worried about Dean. Over the past few days, since the Z-0 incident, really, Dean had constantly used his powers. He rarely shut them off without being directly asked, and when anyone but her _did _ask, he refused.

"You know, when this is all over and when we're not on the run anymore, what're we all going to do?" Emily asked. Dean furrowed his brow.

"I'm not sure. My parents are gone. Jack's only seventeen, and I assume he was announced, like, legally dead. So I assume he can't take care of me. I suppose…"

"You could come live with my family." Emily suggested.

"What? Are you serious?" Dean asked incredulously.

"Well, yeah. My parents are pretty accepting, I'm sure I'd be able to make them understand," She said.

"That'd be an achieeeeevment." Jack slurred, sitting down next to them.

Suddenly, Latias blurred next to them.

"_They're heading for…what did you call it? Parliament?" _she said. "_I'd say it's go time."_

Dean nodded.

"Right. Now or never, guys. Let's end this shit."

_Over the Palace of Westminster…_

"All weapons systems are fully operational, sir. Nobody can stop this thing now," Rankshaw said.

Erik nodded.

"We have one chance, Rankshaw. If we don't kill Regan and the Patriot today, then we're as good as dead. They will both come after us. One will find us, and whoever it is, they'll kill us." He rasped and gripped two levers tightly.

He flipped up the top of one of them, revealing a red button.

"As Shakespeare said, then. 'Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war."

And then, he pressed the button.

Nobody in the house of parliament saw the missile coming.

The side of the building exploded in a shower of fire and shrapnel. Screams split the air like a knife.

Erik watched the smoke billow past the window of RENEGADE.

"No." He muttered, shaking his head.

"Sir?"

"It isn't enough, don't you see? The Patriot controls _everything in this godforsaken country._ I see it now. This isn't enough. We need to wipe it all off the face of the Earth."

"Wipe what off? The Palace of Westminster?"

"No. Not just that. I'm looking at the Palace of Westminster, what we've done, and it is too small. We need to destroy England. All of it, so he has nothing to control," Temple said.

And then a stream of fire burst through the cockpit.

Jack Regan leapt inside, rolled, and came up with his rifle aimed at Erik's head.

"It's over, Erik. Land us and we'll let the police have you." He declared.

Erik laughed, a hoarse, grating noise.

"You're a fool, Jack. You think your brother will let me just go? He's unstable. I've killed his friends and killed his parents and made his life _hell. _He'll kill me if you don't."

Jack shook his head.

"I don't believe that. I believe he'll do what's right. I believe in him, you - …"

A gunshot.

Jack's face fell.

He gripped his side, where warm blood was already rushing out between his fingers.

Rankshaw stood behind him.

Dean hurled himself off Reshiram's back and through the hole in the cockpit.

Jack tried to bring his gun up to shoot Erik. He had the man in his scope. His finger tightened on the trigger.

He fell back into Dean's arms.

Erik wrenched a lever back and RENEGADE pulled away. The sudden movement sent Dean staggering. He fell out of the cockpit, still holding onto Jack, and Latios caught them on his back.

"Dean…" Jack said weakly.

"I'm here. I'm here," Dean said.

"Sorry. I was…too…slow…should've just…shot…" Jack breathed. Dean shook his head.

"No. No, no. Don't you fucking die on me now, Jack. We're all we have left. Please. Don't."

Jack's eyes widened.

"What…?" he muttered, and suddenly, his face seemed to regain some colour. Now, Dean was no expert, but that generally didn't happen when people died.

And then, slowly, the blood that flowed from the bullet hole in his side began to retract, like time was reversing. Slowly, the bullet wrenched itself from Jack's side and seemed to simply vanish.

"Why me?" Jack muttered.

"_What are you talking about?" _Latios asked as he landed on top of Reshiram and let the two Regans off.

Dean pulled his brother into a hug.

"Thought I'd lost you there…" he said.

"Not a chance," Jack said, and lifted his gun. His eyes were glazed over. He looked confused. Scared.

Suddenly, an explosion sounded beneath them.

RENEGADE had just obliterated an apartment building.

People sprinted out of the burning rubble. Some policeman and civilians, as well as their Pokémon, were trying to put it out. Dean saw RENEGADE's massive cannons on its neck load.

"Go!" Dean yelled, and turned to Emily.

"I love you," he said, and leapt off of Reshiram's back.

He fell and saw the two Eons beside him, flying towards the massive machine. Two of its wing-tendrils turned to them, and the cannons on their tips fired.

Dean let out a blast of purple and red draconic energy, a Dragon Pulse, from his hand.

It hit one of the cannons, which burst into flames.

Latias gathered a ball of mist-like psychic energy and fired it off. It expanded in size, absorbing the bullets that hit it.

Latios let out a stream of DragonBreath that hit the other cannon and shattered it into tiny shards of smouldering steel.

RENEGADE turned fully and charged a Shadow Ball in its metal jaws. Dean charged one as well.

He hurled it and the attacks met mid-air, exploding in a shower of dark energy. Dean landed hard and sprinted towards RENEGADE, leaping into the air, ready to smash through the window.

One of its wing-tendrils seemed to come out of nowhere and hit him right in the chest, flinging him to the ground.

He landed on his feet, stumbling slightly.

He splayed his hands and a Heat Wave blasted out from him. The searing wave scorched RENEGADE, melting it in places.

It swung its enormous metal tail at him.

Dean leapt, flipping in mid-air and letting out another Heat Wave. This time, RENEGADE was hit full on and much of its circuitry was exposed.

Reshiram gave a roar and charged a Fusion Flare.

RENEGADE's weapon system was quicker.

A missile was launched from a compartment on its chest. The projectile blasted towards Reshiram…

And stopped mid-flight.

Alakazam held it in place with a Psychic attack, straining against the considerable force of the missile.

Erik didn't hesitate.

He slammed down a button on the bank of controls and one of the two cannons on RENEGADE's neck let rip, the bullets tearing into Alakazam. Alakazam used the last vestige of her strength to crush the missile and slam it into the ground.

Emily sprinted to her Pokémon, not thinking, just running to the torn body that was her friend.

"Alakazam!" she yelled, bending down next to her.

Alakazam tried to speak, but she could barely form any thoughts. She could barely muster up the power to use her telepathy.

"_Emily…"_

"Don't talk."

"_I'll be with my Abra soon…"_

"No. No, no, no…" Emily said, shaking her head.

RENEGADE turned to her.

She pulled her gun and fired thrice. The three bullets shattered the window of RENEGADE. Erik ducked down, as two whizzed by him. Rankshaw screamed as the third sheared into his shoulder and hit the wall.

Emily slammed another magazine into her pistol and kept on firing as she closed Alakazam's eyes with the other. Tears rolled down her face as Rankshaw and Erik frantically ducked down to avoid the bullets flying left and right.

"Rankshaw! Get down there and take her out, dammit!" Temple growled and Rankshaw nodded. He went to the back of the cockpit and opened a small hatch in the floor.

He jumped out of it.

Emily didn't see him level his gun and aim.

Emily didn't see him fire.

Emily saw the bullet at the last second. So did Dean. He ran, eventually beginning to fly. He flew so fast that the wind drove deep lacerations into his face. He flew so fast the bullet moved in slow motion.

So he saw it, very slowly, horrifically slowly, go through Emily's heart.

Dean slammed to the ground in front of her.

"Emily."

But he was too late.

She stared blankly, unseeingly, up at the sky.

Dean's mouth opened. And closed.

"Come back." He muttered. He clenched his fists, and roared at the sky. "Bring her back!"

He gently shut her eyelids, and kissed her on the forehead. He was crying. He didn't know why. He didn't feel sad. He felt empty.

But not for long. That emptiness was replaced by rage.

The rage of a thirteen year old who, from the minute he was born, had a god in his head. Who had all the power there was.

Who had lost his parents and his home. Who had lost everything.

He stood up, surrounded by fire. He stalked towards Rankshaw.

The admin stood and fired. It was useless. The bullets melted before they hit and Dean kept walking.

He raised his hand and placed it on Rankshaw's head.

The man's brain liquefied. His eyes turned to jelly and his organs scorched. His bones were crisped and blackened as he burned from the inside out.

Dean retracted his hand.

Jack stared in horror as his brother, a murderer, a vengeful, insane god, rose into the air in front of RENEGADE's shattered window.

Temple met his red gaze.

"Go on then. Finish me. It would've been you or the Patriot in the end. I'm not afraid to die." Erik stated.

"Then I swear on the grave of my parents, I'll put fear into you before I kill you."

"Ha! Fear of what? The fear of god? The fear of what comes after?" Erik scoffed.

"No. Of me. Because whoever the Patriot is and however scared of him you are, I am worse. I am a hundred thousand times worse." Dean called.

"I'm not afraid, boy. I made you."

"Then I hope you're proud of what you've made."

And then, Jack's voice interrupted.

"Stop! Dean! That's enough!" He yelled, sprinting towards his brother and stopping beneath him.

"It's enough. Rankshaw is dead. You've killed him. You've, you've avenged her or whatever the hell it is you think you did. This is enough!" Jack pleaded. Dean turned to him. Tears ran down his face.

"No. It's not. It won't be enough until they're all dead."

Jack paled. He looked into his brother's eyes and saw something that made his blood run cold.

Dean lifted his hand and shot a sphere of orange into the air. The sky roared with orange light.

Erik closed his eyes.

"The Patriot. It was him. Find him, find the man with the sunglasses and - !"

A pillar of light, a Judgement, blasted through the head of RENEGADE and turned it to dust.

Dean rose higher into the air as dust swirled around him and night began to fall.

Jack watched his brother blast into the distance as night fell over England.

_The Apartment…_

Dean landed hard in the back alley behind the shabby apartment building, the pavement cracking with the force of the impact.

He stood up straight.

He had a plan. Dean would find the man in the glasses, and this Patriot, and kill them both. He would wipe out everyone involved with the Hunters and everyone that they had ever known.

For Emily.

Dean didn't know where Jack was, but he was fairly sure that he hadn't abandoned him.

Dean hesitated as his hand went to the door.

Maybe what he'd heard Temple say was right. Maybe he was unstable.

But then again, maybe not.

Dean opened the door and switched on the lights.

Just in time to see a glowing portal close and a boy a little older than him, accompanied by numerous Pokémon, stumbled through it.

**So that's it. Look out for Thinking with Portals (ahahaha), me and Wolf's collab! R&R!**


End file.
